The Tale of Naruto, Just Naruto
by Akumas Tenshi
Summary: After living in an orphanage for four years, then on the streets for one, things are not looking good for young Naruto. That is, until he's found by a rouge ninja while passed out...
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Author Note: First might I say that I hate reading these just as much as I hate writing them, so don't expect to see a lot of them. Though if you do see one, please do read it, it might be important. Okay, now that I have that out of the way, may I welcome you to my very first Fanfic! Woo. And because it is my first, I would love to see some helpful pieces of advice if you have any for me. Thank you ^-^

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my OC Ryuu…

* * *

The five year old child sat on top of his bed which was composed of grubby rags and pieces of fabrics that he came across over time. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them, his chin resting on top. A rather large rag that was once considered a blanket was wrapped around his shoulders for the small warmth it gave, though he still shook from the cold of the winter night.

His shirt was a worn orange, holes both small and large through out it. His shorts came to his knees, also worn, rips and mud covering them. His feet were bare, covered in cuts both new and old.

His stomach growled loudly, pleading for food, but all that it got was a sigh.

"I know, I know. You want food. Food that I don't have…" He trailed off, his eyes half closed.

If one were to pull up his 'shirt', they would find a slightly caved in stomach, his ribs clearly visible. His spine and shoulder blades were also agonizingly noticeable. In all, he could easily pass as a walking skeleton with skin, hair, and eyes.

The young child's all around appearance was no better.

His hair, face, and body were covered in filth and grime. It was to the point where people would not be able to tell what his hair color was, or the fact that he is, in fact, a boy because of his hair that reached his shoulder blades. One would barely be able to make out the three whisker-like tattoos on each of his cheeks. His ocean blue eyes looked glazed over, unfocused.

His home-made bed was lying against a wall, which did not make up his home, but instead the back wall of an abandoned building. The building itself was located in the 'not-so-nice' part of the village, the part where people tried usually to stay away from.

Off in the distance, a deep rumbling was heard, followed by a flash of lighting. Light rain began falling shortly after, causing the five-year old to look up at the star-less night and frown.

Mumbling some colorful words that he picked up from some of the villagers, he slowly stood. Readjusting his 'blanket' on his shoulder, he looked down at his 'bed'; he mentally debated on what to do with it.

After a few moments of going through the pros and cons, the once light rain began growing harder, making the rags grow damp.

Giving a light grunt and mumbling out a 'not worth it', the child slowly began walking out from behind the building and onto the streets, looking for a place to stay for the night out of the rain.

'_I guess that there is one good thing about the rain though,'_ he silently mused, _'everyone stays indoors'_. He tightened the already damp 'blanket' around his shoulders, letting a shiver racket through his body. Turning his eyes towards the ground, he went through his memories on possible places go head. His frown deepened at another flash of lighting.

He stopped walking once he realized that the ground changed from pavement to wet grass and mud. He looked up to find out where his feet led him. Looking at the trees that made up one of the many training area's, he once again debated with himself, though this time on wither or not to go into the 'forest' or turn around and go somewhere else.

At yet another flash of lighting, which was followed by thunder, he made another grunt and began walking past the many trees. He pushed out the thought that there might be ninja stupid enough to train in the middle of a thunder storm.

Avoiding low branches and fallen pieces of wood or any other thing that might trip him, the young child made his way through the trees. His eyes were constantly looking over his surroundings, searching for both potential threats and somewhere to stay.

After a few more minutes of wondering and not coming across anything or anyone, he stopped and walked over to a rather large tree. Placing a hand on the trunk, he looked up at the many branches. Because of the vast amount and their thickness, the rain was having a hard time coming through, giving a sense of shelter.

A light sigh passed through his lips, the only sign of his relief. Sitting down against a large root that was above the ground, he closed his eyes. Letting out a deep breath, he repositioned his 'blanket' to where it was covering his small body.

'_I'll rest here for the night. Wait out the storm then I'll… I guess I'll figure it out when that point in time comes' _

Finally letting sleep over come him, the young child slept.

* * *

The middle aged man watched from his seat higher up in a tree as the small child slowly walked into his field of vision. His long brown hair stuck to his face, black shirt and pants clinging to his body. He had his own cloak wrapped around his body, keeping him some-what dry, though not much. An elegant eyebrow was raised when he noticed that the child stopped walking for a short amount of time, then went over to a large oak tree, placing a small hand on the tree's trunk. The child's heat tilted upwards for a moment. The man's own head tilted to the side as he only just heard the light sigh that came from the kid.

Watching as the young child sit down, leaning against both the tree's trunk and an exposed tree root, slight worry went through the man.

'_The child can't seriously be thinking of sleeping out here! There's a storm going on for gods' sake! Where are his parents?'_ Rage soon joined his worry at that though. _'No good parents would make their kid sleep outside in the middle of a damn storm. Either the child has no parents, or his parents just don't care for him, and if I find out that it's the latter…'_ His eye brows knitted together, a deep frown setting on his face

The possibility quickly passed through his mind, before he shook his head and focused back on the now sleeping child.

He tried to fight the urge, really he did, but it won out in the end.

Glancing out around the surrounding area, the man un-wrapped his cloak from his body and jumped down to the young child. Landing next to him, he took in the child's form and condition, frowning even deeper, if that was possible. The child was so filthy that the man could not even tell if the young child was a boy or girl, though the long hair didn't help either.

Looking at the thin and torn material that the child was using as blanket, he resisted the urge to storm into the village and up to their leader and tell him off. Maybe hit a few things as well….

Instead, the man carefully placed his own cloak around the child's sleeping form before picking the child up and clutching the child to his chest, its head resting between the man's neck and shoulder. Making his cloak more secure around the child so it wouldn't fly off, he made his way deeper into the training ground, getting closer to the villages giant walls.

'_Come on, I know I saw it around here some where…'_ The man was frantically looking over his surrounding as he lightly jogged passed the trees.

He was about to just give up when he spotted what he was looking for. _'Finally!'_

The man made his way into the cave that was hidden by the thick trees and brush. He himself would not have noticed it if it weren't for the fact that he stumbled upon it the day before. Walking towards the back he placed the shivering child down upon the floor, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Deciding that he needing to get a fire going for the kid and himself, he looked around the cave, hoping beyond hope that there would be dry wood in here, or else they would have to go fireless.

Thankfully, luck was on their side. In the very corner of the cave, there sat a decent pile of dry wood.

Quickly getting up and grabbing an arms full worth, he went back to the small child. Placing the wood at a space where it wouldn't hurt the child, he began his attempt at starting the fire.

A few tries, curses, and one kick of frustration later, a roaring fire was going.

'_Damn wood, not starting for me…'_ Sitting on the opposite side of the child, his back to the cave's entrance, he gazed into the flickering flames, loosing himself in his thoughts.

Some time passed when the man was brought from his mind by the movement of fabric. Looking through the fire at the young child (still not knowing its gender), he watched as the child began waking. The man made no sudden movements, not wanting to scare the child.

Finally, the child opened its eyes, blinking a few times before slowly sitting up, the man's cloak now covering his lap. Blinking a few more times, the child looked around the cave in wonder before the child's blue eyes landed on him.

The man saw the child tense, a brief flash of fear pass through its eyes, before they went blank. Simply blank. Though its body was still tense, everything else about the child showed nothing of its emotions.

He tried to smile kindly at the kid, though sorrow and rage were the two overpowering emotions he was feeling. Sorrow that a child so young knew how to hide his own emotions so well, and rage towards the ones that made him learn how to.

"Hey there. My names Ryuu. Hope you don't mind me moving you…" The man, Ryuu, spoke softly.

The child just stared at him, blinking its eyes owlishly.

Ryuu coughed, not know what to say. "So… if you want to, you can wait out the storm here with me then go back to the village afterwards. I'm not forcing you to stay here."

The child's face scrunched up at the thought of returning to the village, and Ryuu caught the meaning behind the look as well.

"Tell me kid, do you want to return?"

The child looked away from Ryuu, A far away look in its eyes. After a few moments wait, the child shook its small head 'no'.

Once again, rage filled Ryuu, wanting to know what the village could have done to make a child not want to live in it.

"Do you have any parents there?"

Another 'no' head shake.

"Family?"

And another.

"Friends…?" Ryuu almost asked in a disheartened voice.

Yet another head shake, indicting that he had no one in the village. Ryuu wanted to go over and hug the poor kid, though he resisted in fear of scaring the child.

His mouth opened and the words came out before he could stop them. "Then would you like to stay with me?"

Ryuu wanted to hit his head against the cave wall until he saw a flash of slight hope go through the kid's eyes, before it was quickly replaced with weariness.

Quickly going through his mind on what he could say to make the kid trust him and travel with him, the thought hit him.

"Before you answer, how about I tell you more about myself?" Catching the slight nod, Ryuu continued. "Well, you know my name is Ryuu. Just Ryuu. I'm 23 years old, and considered a Jonin from my old village. I'm now a missing-nin. Now before you freak, let me explain why I'm considered so." At another small nod, he once again continued. "I was born and raised in the Land of Wind inside the village Sunagakure; also know as Suna for short. Now, the reason that I left was because of the current Kazekage.

"You see, the Kazekage has three children, a daughter and two sons, his daughter being his eldest. The thing is, with his youngest son, the Kazekage decided to seal the One-tailed beast while the child was still inside its mother's stomach." Ryuu watched as he child's eyes widened at this. "That's right. The child's own father demanded to have a demon sealed with in his own son. Now as one would guess, because of the One-tailed being sealed with in the baby while still being inside its mother's womb, the wife of the Kazekage died while giving birth to their youngest son." At this point, Ryuu looked into the fire, his eyes unfocused.

"Over the first year, nothing showed of the baby having the demon sealed within, except for his black rimmed eyes and the sand that would automatically protect him from harm. At the age of two, his father started training him as the perfect weapon. This went on for the next three years, until he turned five. At this point, his father, the Kazekage, deemed his own son a failure and started to send his ninja after his son, wanting them to take his life." Ryuu tightened his hands into fists. "And guess who he asked first?" A sorrow filled his smile. "Me. Can you believe it? He asked me to kill his five year old son just because he's not turning out how he wanted him to!"

A look of horror could be found on the young child's face. Just the thought of a father wishing his youngest son dead made the child's heart wrench.

Ryuu continued on, not noticing the child's painful look.

"At first, I was in shock. I'm not sure how long I just stood there looking at the man before I finally snapped out of it. Anger and rage began replacing the feeling of shock, and I wanted nothing more to do then kill _him_ instead. But, instead of giving into my desire, I gave him the coldest glare that I could muster, and simply said, 'No. I would rather take my own life before I take that of a child's. If you wish for your youngest sons death so much, then you can find someone else to do it. I refuse.' Then, I left.

"Though I will admit, before I left, I went to see Temari, the Kazekage's oldest, and warned her of what her father wished to happen to her youngest brother. I have never seen her so angry. She promised me that she would gladly look after her youngest brother, keeping him safe from what she could even though she was only a few years older them him. Then, I packed my thing and left. As soon as the Kazekage caught wind of it, he marked me as an S Class Missing-Nin. The point of the matter is, I could never hurt a child."

Ryuu finally lifted his gaze from the crackling fire and looked at the child's face. A soft smile was on his face, his eyes soften. Now Ryuu really could see the hope in the child's eyes. Hope of being taken away from the village that it hated so, hope for a chance of finally finding someone to look after him, for hopefully being able to try out that whole 'family' thing that so many kids his age had. Finally, someone to start over new with. Someone who won't curse him or attempt to chase after him to try to beat him. He could just be him. He smiled.

Finally, for the first time that night, the young child spoke. Though softly, he spoke.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ryuu. My name it Naruto. Just Naruto. And I would like to stay with you if you will let me.

Ryuu gladly returned the smile. "I wouldn't want it any other way Naruto."

And that is how the story, the true story, of Naruto began.


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my OC Ryuu…

* * *

After their agreement on traveling together, Ryuu took out what looked to be a plain scroll. Seeing Naruto's questioning gaze shifting from him to the scroll, Ryuu explained it while unrolling it.

"Tell me Naruto, do you know what ninja are?" At the child's 'Oh-course-I-do-idiot', Ryuu looked a bit sheepish, putting a hand behind his head.

"Ah, of course you do. You did after all use to live in the number one ninja producing village."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the man before him, though there was a slight smile on his face from the past tense that Ryuu used. He motioned for Ryuu to continue talking.

"Well, as I was saying, and as you already know, I use to be a ninja for Suna. This scroll that I have here is what ninja use to seal cloths, tools, extra weapons, food, anything that we might need. The possibilities are endless."

At the thought of food, Naruto's stomach growled quite loudly, demanding food. The child's face turned a light shade of red from embarrassment.

Ryuu smiled down at the young child.

"I take it that you're hungry. How about this; I'll find you some clean and dry cloths, _real_ cloths to wear, then we'll eat. How does that sound, hmm?" He spoke in a happy voice, still grinning down at Naruto.

Just the thought of clean and dry cloths that didn't have any rips and tears in them alone made him happy, but add food to the equation, and the child felt like jumping up and down a few times, then running over and hugging Ryuu as tightly as he could while yelling out his thanks to the man. But, instead, he simply smiled lightly and said a simple, 'Sounds good'.

Ryuu was silently feeling a bit downcast since the young child barely showed any emotions. Though, he did have to admit that the child was quite good at hiding them, above all someone for his age who would be no doubt jumping up and down in excitement, or at the very least grinning like a mad man. But, no, not Naruto. And Ryuu was not sure if that fact scared him, angered him towards that old so called village of his, or happy that he was able to do it so well.

If Ryuu really wanted to be honest with himself, he was positive that if he was not brought up to simple see/feel what other people were really feeling, he most likely never would have know that the child in front of him was, in fact, rather happy.

Shaking his head to get off that train of thought, Ryuu went back to talking.

"Okay, now watch closely to what I'm going to do with this scroll. Since I'm going to be teaching and training you to become a ninja, you might as well learn how to summon and seal from a scroll here and now." Seeing the pure look of shock mixed with slight hope on the child's face, Ryuu couldn't help but smirk. He waited for the question that he knew was coming.

"Y-you want to train _m-me_ to become a _ni-ninja_? Why…?" Naruto asked slowly, stuttering at certain parts. His face was still speaking his shock.

Now it was Ryuu's turn to give Naruto the 'Yes-I-really-want-to-train-you' look. Naruto got the meaning, though slowly, he got it. Turning a deep shade of red, he stared down at the ground, finding it more interesting all of a sudden. Ryuu smiled at the cuteness of the image.

"Well, of course I do. I mean, if you really are going to be staying with me, then that means that you'll have to know how to defend your self for when I'm not there to help you with something. After all, I _am_ an S Class Missing-Nin." Both Ryuu and Naruto rolled their eyes at this. Yeah, right….. "So that means that there will always be hunter-nins after me, or people that want to collect the bounty that's over my head. Which, might I add is pretty high the last time I checked." The man winked at the young child with a wide grin on his face.

"Did you know that I apparently tried to kill the Kazekage but failed, but I was able to kill a sum total of fifteen other ninja? Why, I must have been really out of it to not remember that part." Ryuu started to chuckle, and Naruto could not help but to grin with him.

"Why no, I didn't know. And you say you don't remember?"

Ryuu rolled his eyes at Naruto, though he was still grinning.

"Okay, moving on… Tomorrow after a good nights rest we'll talk about your training. But first, let's get you changed and fed, eh?"

Finally understand Ryuu's logic for him becoming a ninja, Naruto complied with the man's change of subject.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, and then tilted his head to the side in a rather cute way, his eyes sparkling. It would have been the face of an angel if it wasn't for the grim that was still cling to his body and hair. Though in time when Naruto was finally able to finally wash, Ryuu was going to learn to hate the face that Naruto was making at the moment because of his inability to say no to it. In the mean time though, Ryuu showed the eager Naruto how one went through sealing then unsealing objects from a scroll.

After Naruto changed (Ryuu was horrified and angered at the state of his body) into one of Ryuu's tightest shirts (Which was still rather big and loose on Naruto) and a pair of his shortest black pants (Which had to be rolled up and have a homemade belt made from ninja wire to keep up), Naruto was ready for bed. Though before he slept, Ryuu gave Naruto five chocolate power bars (Which, to the child's displeasure, did _NOT_ taste what he though he thought it was spouse to taste like based on what other kids said about it).

Ryuu explained that that was all he had left at the moment, though he promised that as soon as the storm passed, he would sneak the two of them out of the village's walls, by-passing the village's ninja and civilians, they would head to the nearest town for food and cloths for Naruto.

After Ryuu was done explaining, he asked if Naruto wanted to tell his background or not.

Little by little and bit by bit, Naruto began telling Ryuu how he never met his parents. From what the lady at the orphanage said, he was simply left at the door step. Clearly, he was a bastard child that his parents didn't want. Or so he was told.

He told Ryuu that when he turned four, he was forced to leave the orphanage, not aloud back inside it. He said that when the Hokage found out, he was given a small place of his own, though not long after, he was once again forced to leave, though this time it was because of the landlord and the angry villagers that he gathered. After a nights beating (Here Ryuu fumed with rage), Naruto decided it was best to simply live on the streets.

Sure, he still got money once a month from the Hokage (He told Ryuu were he stashed all of it so they could use it), though even with it, the shop owners would not allow him to buy anything. He was forced to either go through the trash of other people and hope for food, or starve.

After a while, Naruto became use to living on the streets, knowing where to go on what days to find food, where to hide out from the angry villagers that sometimes spotted him, shelter when it was raining like it was this night, basically how to survive on his own for a little over a year.

Naruto explained that after a few months, the Hokage stopped trying to find him, so his supply of money stopped coming, though it didn't matter since he couldn't use it.

Finally, Naruto told him of how all of the villagers seemed to hate him no matter what he did, as well as the ninja. He told Ryuu that on every birthday that he could ever remember, (Which wasn't many) how he was beaten and cursed to the blink of death, though it seemed that no matter what they did to him, he wouldn't die. He told Ryuu how many times that he wished that he would just die, so that all the pain and hurt would go away, so that he didn't have to feel the hate of the village.

When Naruto was done talking, Ryuu felt a great mixture of emotions.

For one, he felt that his heart was being crushed with sadness and sorrow. Another was complete and utter fury towards the villagers, all of them. He had to resist unsealing his favorite and most prized sword and kill them all where they stood. Then there was the feeling of simply wanting to reach over and grab the child in his arms, hugging him and telling him over and over that he would never have to go through any of that again.

Finally, he complied with the last one of his feelings.

Standing up, he took three large steeps around the fire and towards the small child. Kneeling down in beside him, he took him in his arms, pressing him against his chest to where the child was sitting on his lap. With tears in his eyes and a few falling down his cheeks, he began rocking them both, letting the child cry into his chest, his small hands gripping onto his shirt for dear life, as if he was afraid to let go and Ryuu would leave him.

The two of them stayed like that for some time, Naruto crying all of the tears that he had been holding in, and Ryuu telling him sweet nothings, promising him that he was okay now and that he was safe. That nothing was going to happen to him anymore. Ryuu, too, cried. He cried for the child, for the pain that a five year old was forced to go thought, feeling unwanted and hated. He cried to let Naruto know that it was okay to do so as well, that he wouldn't hate him for it. How could anyone hate such a child?

Finally, after a few more minutes, Ryuu stopped his rocking. Naruto slowed his crying to hiccups and snuffles. Setting Naruto down onto the ground slowly, he quickly went over and grabbed the two pillows and two blankets and went back over to Naruto.

Laying down a blanket on the floor besides the still burning fire, but at a safe distance, he laid the two pillows down on top of the blanket. Leaving the last blanket to the side, he carefully picked up Naruto then laid him on the blanket and pillows, pulling the last blanket over the young child for extra warmth.

Running his fingers through the child's hair, he began singing a short song that his own mother sang to him at night.

"_Cover my eyes  
Cover my ears  
Tell me these words are a lie  
It cant be true  
That I'm losing you  
The sun cannot fall from the sky_

Can you hear heaven cry  
Tears of an angel  
Tears of aaaaaaaa...  
Tears of an angel  
Tears of an angel.

Stop every clock  
Stars are in shock  
The river will flow to the sea  
I wont let you fly  
I wont say goodbye  
I wont let you slip away from me

Can you hear heaven cry  
Tears of an angel  
Tears of aaaaaaaa...  
Tears of an angel  
Tears of an angel.

So hold on  
Be strong  
Everyday on we'll go  
I'm here, don't you fear

Little one don't let go  
(ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh)  
Don't let go  
(ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh)  
Don't let go  
(ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh)

Cover my eyes  
Cover my ears  
Tell me these words are a lie"

Ryuu smiled a sad smile down at the now sleeping Naruto. Still running his fingers through the child's hair, he spoke softly to him.

"Sleep well young Naruto. Gods know you deserve it." Still smiling, he bent down and lightly kissed his forehead.

"I vow to you young one, from this day forward, I will protect you from any and all…"

If Ryuu were to have looked closely, he would have seen a ghost of a smile.

* * *

When Naruto finally woke the next day, it was to the sound of soft rain hitting the ground outside of the cave. Opening his eyes, he started up at the moss that was growing on the rocky ceiling.

His first instinct was to panic and find out why he was inside a cave, so that was what he did.

Panic, check. Reason….

'_Is this one of the villager's sick attempts to get rid of me again?'_ He asked himself, his panic level rising.

Looking around wildly, his panic filled eyes landed on a sleeping man who was leaning against the cave's wall that was closest to the small child. Naruto took in the man's long, straight, light brown hair and black outfit. Then something clicked in his mind.

The events of last night ran through his head at a fast pace, making the child slightly dizzy. Shaking his head, he took notice of his new outfit.

'_So all that must have really happen then, if I'm wearing this.'_ A small smile appeared on his lips as his fingers gripped the shirts soft material, admiring it.

Finally noticing the blanket that was sitting on his lap and the one he was sitting on, shortly fallowed by the pillow behind him, his small smile grew.

A small noise brought his attention back to the man. What was his name again…?

'_Ryuu, that's his name I believe'_ The young child nodded, recalling that part of the man's, Ryuu's, introduction.

Ryuu gave a large yawned before he opened his eyes in a sleepy manner. His eyes drifted over and met Naruto's.

"Good morning." He grinned at the young child, who smiled back lightly, not quite use to having people smile at him instead of the normal sneer or glare. And it made him happy.

"Good morning…"

Ryuu twisted his back to the left far enough to where it cracked, then did it to the right. Naruto winced at the noise, but besides that, said nothing else. He didn't want to bring up what happened last night, rather self-conscious that he cried in front of a man that he barely knew.

Once Ryuu was done stretching, he changed his sitting position to a crossed legged one. Luckily, Ryuu didn't wish to bring it up either, not wanting to make him uncomfortable by it.

"So here's how I see it; we have two choices for the day. One, we can stay here and wait out the rain until it stops, or Two, we can just leave now since the rain is only a light drizzle. You get to choose. Then which ever choice you do choose, we'll talk about your training schedule. How does that sound to you?" Ryuu propped his elbow up on his knee, resting his chin on his palm, giving Naruto a questioning look.

Naruto blinked a few times, before he looked outside of the cave's mouth. Giving the outside a long stare, he looked back at Ryuu and answered him slowly.

"Well, if it's really up to me…then I say we leave as soon as possible." Truth be told, Naruto just wanted to get as far away from his past village, away from the people in it, the bad memory's that it held for him, everything that concerned his old life.

Ryuu simply gave a sad smile, guessing Naruto's reason for wanting to leave right away. Nodding, Ryuu jumped up, startling Naruto slightly.

"Well then, shall we get everything packed and leave?" He began his full body stretches.

Naruto could only nod dumbly, not quite sure what to say at the moment to Ryuu.

Getting up himself, he picket up one of the blankets and began to fold it neatly.

After a few minutes, both the blankets and two pillows were sealed away (Naruto watched closely as Ryuu did this) and all of the traced of a fire was taken care of by Ryuu. Ryuu put his now dry cloak around Naruto, ignoring his gaze for the moment.

Ryuu squatted down besides Naruto, his arms held out behind him. Naruto gave him questioning look, asking through his eyes if Ryuu was sane or not. Ryuu simply sighed.

"Are you going to get on or not? That is, unless, you want to walk barefoot the entire time…" He trailed off, giving a pointed look at the kid.

Naruto glanced down at his bare feet and scowled. Looking back up at Ryuu and his curious look, Naruto rolled his eyes and mumbled out a 'fine'.

Ryuu smiled. "Besides, now that cloak of mine will protect both our bodies."

Nodding and understand the man's logic, he started climbing onto the man's back. Naruto wrapped his arms around his neck lightly and legs around his waist a little tighter, just to the point where he would not fall back.

Ryuu stood up, making it so that the small child was secure and would not fall off from his back. Naruto helped him get his arms through the cloaks long sleeves, seeing as he could not really do it himself.

Finally, the two were off, leaving the cave that gave them shelter for the night, leaving from the village that provided Naruto with hate, leaving for both of their new lives with each other.


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my OC Ryuu…

**Author's Note**: So, I just thought that I should mention that in my story, children graduate from the ninja academy at the age of fifteen, not the usual age of twelve….

Also, I want to ask you all what animal that Naruto should be able to summon. Foxes are so over rated so I'm hoping for something original, and so I thought to ask. If you have any ideas, do tell.

**Edited and re-posted on June 21, 2010. My thanks go out to Fuyuriku for pointing out some things that didn't seem all that realistic. **

The sun was shining; birds were chirping; a pleasant breeze passing, and two people running for their lives from two angry, full grown, bears.

Yep. Just another day for the thirty-three year old man, Ryuu, and fifteen year old teen, Naruto.

As the two started to increase in speed and lose the two livid bears, Ryuu grabbed the teen and quickly hid behind a thick tree's trunk. Ryuu quickly created two shadow clones, one appearing as himself and one as Naruto. The two clones nodded to the real Ryuu and Naruto and took their place, running from the two bears.

The two real copies' held their breath even though both of their lungs were already burning from the lack of oxygen.

The two watched as the bears ran past them, none the wiser that they were now chasing clones. As soon as they were out of sight, both Ryuu and Naruto began sucking in air. Ryuu had to lean against the tree as Naruto sank down to his knees, both having a hand pressed against their chest, gasping for breath.

"And that….is why….one does not….play with…. a bear's cub." Ryuu panted out. He reached into his backpack and pulled out two water bottles, tossing one to the still panting Naruto.

Catching the bottle, Naruto took a big gulp of water before replying.

"Advice noted; never play with bear cubs. But you have to admit, that was a great way to start a morning; running from two pissed off bears for thirty sum minutes and all that." He fell onto his back, eyes close. "Damn, I still say that they were not normal bears." His breathing was still hard, though it was getting better as time went by. He had a smile on his face and gave a light laugh.

Ryuu laughed lightly as well, but nodded none the less. Sitting down, he took off his backpack and set it besides him as he leaned against the tree, closing his eyes as well.

The two stayed like that for a few minutes, both lost in their own thoughts, though both of their thoughts were on each other and how their traveling together for three years has changed them.

Ryuu was wearing his usual outfit. Black long sleeved shirt, baggy pants, open toed shoes, and even the backpack resting on his back was black. His shoulder length brown hair was being held up by a, surprise, surprise, black hair tie. On his right thigh was one of his many weapons pouches, having another one just below the first. Around his waist was a belt that had a Kanata's sheath attached to. On both of his wrists resided a senbon launcher which he controlled by his chakra, both of them being hidden from view by his shirts sleeves. On his back rested his Windmill Shuriken. On top of that was of course his backpack which carried all of his scrolls, extra weapons, money, a little bit of food, and a couple bottles of water and the usual miscellaneous that he refuses to leave without. In his pants many pockets were some of the scrolls that he might need in an instant or during the heat of a battle.

Naruto's outfit, being much like Ryuu's, included a long sleeved shirt and a pair of baggy black pants. The only difference between the two outfits was the fact that Naruto's pockets were lined with dull silver studs and his shirt had a smirking fox head on his back with 'The Smirking Fox' written out in kanji besides the design, written in a maroon color. When Ryuu asked the then younger Naruto why he wanted the silver studs, his answer was a shoulder shrug and a simple 'because I like them'. Ryuu simply looked at the child with a raised eyebrow, shook his head, and bought the cloths for the child. The fox design and kanji on the other hand were an entire different matter with a real reason that only the two knew of. To everyone else, it a sign. An omen in better words. An omen telling that you that if seen, you're being targeted by none other than the Deadly Fox and Vicious Dragon.

Also like Ryuu, Naruto also had two weapon pouches, having one above the other. He also had a pair of senbon launchers as well hidden by his long sleeves, though unlike Ryuu, his senbon were dipped in a somewhat lethal poison that if not treated right away, would end up killing the person. On his back were two short blades that had one crossed over the other, making a X. Resting against his hip was one of his favorite weapons, a ten foot long chain that on one end had a ten pound weight in the shape of a circle, and on the other end, what looked to be a sickle. It was his kusarigama.

Naruto's body appearance had also changed over the years as one's would with growing older. His hair was still a bright blonde, skin tone a nice tan color, and with his height reaching a proud six feet. On the teen's left eyebrow was a small pricing, as well as one on the side of his nose, making his look more intimating when he turned serious during a fight. Or, at least, that's what he told Ryuu when he saw them for the first time.

His body itself greatly improved from the first time that Ryuu found him.

Instead of being greatly underweight to the point where most of his ribs, shoulder blades, and spine could be seen, he now weighted around one hundred and sixty-five pounds. A rather healthy weight if what Ryuu told him was anything to go by.

Ryuu, on the other hand, had barely changed except for the few wrinkles that he was starting to get on the sides of his eyes. Besides that, nothing else changed about the man.

Besides their appearance changes, their personalities had also changed, whether it be for the better or then worse.

For Naruto, he went from the unemotional child to a child that now shows his emotions, though only to the people that he completely trusts (which were few next to none). To anyone else that met him or knew him, he looked and acted like one would with no feelings and impassive about any and all.

It took Ryuu a while to get use to the thought of a child being so dead of emotions, but after a few months of it, his thoughts about it changed, though slowly. In the end, he helped Naruto learn about how advanced ninja are able to distinguish one's emotions, be it by the person's body language, their voice pitch, facial expression, and even the look in their eyes or their eye's movement. Naruto took it all in and taught himself to both learn how to see other people's emotions and hide his own, up to the point where even Ryuu could not tell what the small boy was feeling or really thinking when the two were out in public, and that was saying something.

For Ryuu, he let his parental instincts come out in full force and was finally able to find joy, real joy, while looking after the teen which he now considered a son. It still amazed him whenever Naruto was able to learn something that would take most children his age or older weeks or months to learn, where as he would have it down, or at least the idea of it, in a few days, and for the harder things, maybe somewhere between a week and two. He just absorbs everything like a sponge does with water.

Ryuu lightly shook his head; though one could see the pride he felt towards the teen in his eyes if they really looked.

While Ryuu's was thinking of what Naruto learned those past ten years and what he had left to teach him, Naruto's mind had drifted over to the small weights that were on his wrists and ankles. While it was a pain getting use to both the weights and the senbon launchers on his wrists, he thought the brief annoyance worth it. He was currently recalling the day that he and Ryuu went in and bought the 'small' little wonders.

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback) ~_~_~_~_~

_Ryuu lead the five year old Naruto into a small shop. The letters on the sign were fading, so he was not able to make out what the store was used for._

_ As the door opened, a bell's chime singled the store owner that they entered. An elderly man walked out from behind a door that Naruto didn't even notice till now._

_The hair that the man had left was a light gray color, his eyes a dull brown, though still showed the wisdom that they held. He had small scars here and there on his face and hands, telling tales of past battles .Naruto spotted the cane clutched in his hand as well and how he leaned some of his weight on it. _

_The elderly man smiled at the two, nodding his head at Ryuu._

_ "Ryuu, it's been quite some time. To what do I owe the pleasure to? Are those swords holding up well enough for you?" His voice was soft and kind though held a tinge of curiosity to it. _

_ Ryuu returned the smile and nod. "Yes, the swords are as excellent as the day I bought them, thank you. As for the reason that I'm here, I would like you to meet Naruto. Naruto," Ryuu looked down at the small child, still smiling, "this is my old friend, Yasuo. He used to live in Suna when he was younger, but moved away many years ago. He's about the finest weapons maker, if not the finest, that I know. When I first ran into him, he though me to be the crazy murder that the Kazekage tried to portray me as, but he heard me out and believed me when I told him what really happened. Since that day, he is the only person that I will come to whenever I need weapons or anything else that he sells that I might find useful."_

_ Naruto bowed, showing his respect for the man that meant something to Ryuu._

_ "It's a pleasure to meet you, Yasuo."_

_ Yasuo chuckled lightly, eyeing the young child with a curious look. _

"_That's one polite boy you got there Ryuu, though since he looks nothing like you, so I take it he's not yours?"_

"_Yes, your right. He's not mine." Ryuu placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, pulling him close to his side, "But I'm begging to think of him like he is."_

_Naruto jerked his head up and looked up at the man that took him in and helped him escape from his old sad excuse for a life. His face showed the shock he felt because of Ryuu statement._

'Is he really starting to think of me like that…?'

_The child's shocked face slowly turned to one of pure joy and happiness. Neither Ryuu nor Yasuo missed the child's change of facial expression, though Ryuu didn't show that he saw, so neither did Yasuo._

"_Now the reason that I'm here is because I'm going to be training Naruto here to become a shinobi, so he needs some weights for his wrists and ankles to help build up his speed. Do you have anything that might do the job?"_

_Yasuo's smile turned into a great grin._

"_You're just in luck." Yasuo walked, well limped, back through the door he appeared from and after a few minutes, he came back out with four identical looking black bands that each had what looked a small battery pack on them. "I got finished making these babies' just the other night." He set the four of them onto the counter that stood in between Yasuo, Ryuu, and Naruto. He motioned for Naruto to step closer, and with a quick look from Ryuu for approval, Naruto stood in front of the counter, the top just reaching the top of his head, so he took to standing on his toes to get a better look. _

_The older man reached over and lightly took hold of one of the child's wrists, rolling up the child's sleeve and grabbed one of the bands "Now, the theory behind these are that once placed onto the wrist or ankle of a person, they mix with the person's chakra. Now don't give me that look. They should be safe." Naruto was about to pull his wrist away from the old man, but before he was able to, Yasuo placed the band around the child's wrist, snapping it on._

"_Now what these are made to do is change their weight automatically once the user gets use to the old weight. The increase is not a large one, so the person wearing them shouldn't even be able to tell that they got heavier._

"_What's so nice about them is that the person wearing them is able to take them on and off whenever they please; so say that if you need an extra speed boost, just take them off, and you will gain the speed that the weights were holding back. And also add the fact that they add muscle to your arms and legs, so not only do you get faster, but also stronger."_

_Both Naruto's and Ryuu's mouths were slightly opened by the end of his speech. Naruto looked down at the black band in amazement. He lifted his wrist up and down, testing out the weight. He was able to feel it lightly, as in able to tell that it was there, but besides that, nothing. He would not have even known it weighed anything more than a common bracelet if Yasuo didn't explain it to them._

_Naruto looked over at Ryuu, seeing him also looking at the band around his wrist. Slowly, a grin formed on Ryuu's face. He turned his attention back to Yasuo._

"_We'll take them."_

_Naruto couldn't hide the grin that formed on his face._

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback End) ~_~_~_~_~

Lightly pulling up his left sleeve, he looked at the band that was wrapped around his wrist though covered by his senbon launchers. It has been a long ten years since he got them, and he still could only barely notice the increase that happened to the weights. Though, whenever he practices on his taijutsu, he could by far tell that they were not only helping him with his speed, but also in fact also helping him gain muscle just like Yasuo had said they would.

What's more, in those ten years of having them, he had only taken them off when Ryuu deemed it necessary. He worked it out with Ryuu that he would take them off every few months so that he could get use to the feel of a 'lighter' body and new muscles. After a full week of going without them, Naruto would put back on the braces and continue on with his life only to repeat the process a few months later.

While Naruto began planning ahead to the next time he would have to remove the weights, Ryuu's thoughts shifted and were now revolving around Naruto's training. At first, he started it off slow and easy, and then began building up from there.

The first thing that Ryuu did was increase the child's vocabulary, explaining the meaning of the words and how to read and write. After a while, the young child could easily hold a conversation that most adult men would not be able to fallow.

When he started the child's training, it was 20 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, and a light, short jog every morning, before Ryuu finished the day with teaching Naruto what chakra was and how to access his own. After a few days of that, and Naruto had a basic knowledge and was able to get a feel of it, he started to do 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, and a little longer jog in the morning, then was shown and began to memorize all of the different hand signs; both one handed and two handed. Ryuu stressed that he should learn and be able to perform both in case one of his hands becomes unusable for the moment for one reason or another.

Once again seeing Ryuu's logic, Naruto spent a full month and a half learning them all to the point where his speed could match a high genin or low chunin when he was unfocused, but when he _was_ focused; he could manage from high chunin to low jounin. And that was at the age of five.

From there, Ryuu continued by teaching Naruto some of the more basic Nin jutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu that he could remember being taught from his time at Suna's academe.

He started off with showing him how to properly hold a use a kunai and a shuriken and how to aim then throw them. When he got the basics down, Ryuu taught him how to do the replacement jutsu, transformation jutsu, and made him attempt the clone jutsu, though no matter how many times that he tried it, it was as if the jutsu just refused to work for him.

So after a long and frustrating month and gaining no improvements with the jutsu in even the slightest, Ryuu finally decided to move on, promising to find a way to either make it work, or something to replace it with. He already had a different jutsu in mind, but wanted to wait until the child was older before showing him how to perform it.

When Naruto was done complaining about it, Ryuu had Naruto move on and began teaching him how to walk on trees and over water, hoping to improve his charka control. After three exhausting, painful, and soaked weeks, Naruto was finally able to proudly say that he could effortlessly walk on both water and climb up walls, trees, or any other surface.

Pleased that Naruto was able to master the two at such a young age and so quickly, Ryuu decided to let Naruto have a ….'vacation'.

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback) ~_~_~_~_~

_An almost six-year-old Naruto stood beside a grinning Ryuu._

"_So what do you think Naruto? Nice right?"_

_Naruto blinked once. Twice. Three times. Frowning lightly, the child glances at the man besides him._

"_Ryuu…"_

"_Hmm?" Ryuu looked down at the young boy, trying to hid a snicker at the look on the child's face._

"_You _do_ realize that we're standing in front of a desert, right?" Naruto spoke as if he was the adult and Ryuu was the child._

_Ryuu forged a surprised look on his face as he looked over their surroundings._

"_Well what do ya know? It is a desert." He placed a hand on his chin, now going into a thinking pose._

_Not having anything to bang his head against, Naruto improvised by hitting the palm of his hand against his forehead, making a somewhat loud SMACK-ing sound._

_Ryuu chuckled at the child's rare show of emotion. _

"_Aw, come on Naruto. I'm just playing with you. Nothing to hit yourself over."_

_Said child glared, which was returned with a large grin._

_Taking a deep, calming breath, Naruto spoke through gritted teeth._

"_What, may I ask, are we doing here? I thought that you did not want to return to or be anywhere close to your old village."_

"_One: We're here so that you can learn something that a lot of shinobi overlook or simply never think of doing when in the desert. And Two: We're not going to be going to my old village. This spot right here gives us all we need."_

_Naruto's eye twitched slightly, almost barely noticeable though Ryuu caught it. His grin widen, if at all possible._

"_And what is it that you're going to be teaching me?"_

"_Why sand walking of course!"_

_The child's twitch grew, becoming more noticeable. Ryuu hid another snicker._

"_Sand walking…? You can't be serious."_

"_Of course I'm serious! Don't tell me you don't see the advantage of it. And here I was beginning to think that you were smart."_

_The twitch spread to his left hand._

"_No. I don't see the advantage. Care to enlighten me?"_

_Ryuu gave a heavy sighed in mock disappointment before he began explaining to his ward._

"_Okay, think about it this way. Imagine that you are being chased by enemy shinobi, and end up being forced towards the desert for whatever reason." He stopped to shake a finger at Naruto as the young child opened his mouth to speak. "Ah-ah-ah; no interrupting the teacher when said teacher is in lecture mode!" The child snapped his mouth shut and nodded tightly, so Ryuu continued with a pleased smile. "Okay, so you're now in the desert being fallowed. Your trying to shake them from your trail, but can't. Now think, why can't you shake them off?"_

_Naruto rolled his eyes, but answered none the less._

"_Because you're in a desert. There's _no_ place _to_ hide."_

"_Try again; there are ways around that fact if you really think about it and are determined to."_

_The child frowned, crossing his arms over his chest as he began to think. Looking down and watching the sand underneath his feet, he raised an eyebrow as something hit him. _

_Letting his arms fall to his side, he took a step back, keeping his eyes on the sand._

_Nodding to himself, he answered Ryuu again._

"_Because the sand leaves foot prints, tracks, leading the fallowing shinobi directly to you."_

_Ryuu nodded, smile growing._

"_Correct. So now tell me this: if one is able to walk on sand without leaving behind foot prints, would people be able to track them?"_

"…_No." Naruto smiled lightly as well, beginning to see where Ryuu thoughts were heading. His smile left soon after though and his face scrunched up in thought. "But, even if one were to 'walk on sand', wouldn't it be similar to water walking and in turn leave ripples behind? It's not like you could actually levitate over the sand and not leave any trace behind."Naruto argued, turning his head to face Ryuu._

_Nodding again, Ryuu ruffled Naruto's hair like any proud parent would do._

"_You might just prove me wrong about not being smart." Naruto gave a 'no-duh' look. "Your correct of course, ya little brat. The great thing about deserts though is that if the ripples are small enough, as in you keep moving and avoid standing in place too long, than the desert wind will take care of those ripples for you. If there's not a wind, however, then you should just hope that the shinobi following you overlook those ripples."_

_Naruto gave a sharp nod, removing Ryuu's hand from his head in the process. _

"_So, still think I'm crazy?"_

_The child rolled his eyes though his smile was back, however light._

"_Yeah, yeah. I get it now. You're not crazy. Much. So what are we doing just standing here?"_

_Ryuu chuckled lightly at the child's new excitement for learning something new._

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback End) ~_~_~_~_~

The two ending up staying within the desert for two weeks, first learning how to walk on the sand without leaving any foot prints and only ripples, then going over all of the ways on how to lose someone if being fallowed, proving to Naruto that it is possible despite what most think.

From there, the two began to travel the different countries, though stayed out of both the Fire and Wind countries unless absolutely necessary.

Before they knew it, two years passed and Naruto had just turned eight. Over the course of the year, Ryuu show more advance jutsu's, pressed him harder in his taijutsu training, and making him go through many different genjutsu's at random times to test his ability to sense them and then escape them, as well as showing him how to do them himself.

Towards the end of the second year, Ryuu introduced Naruto to the many different types of weapons that he had yet to show him. His hope was that Naruto might find something that he felt he could work with and use in the future. In the end, he chose his kusarigama; he soon after took up learning how to fight with short blades, which ended with him getting two of his own. Though all three of the weapons were only practice one, Ryuu stating that when they returned to the Fire Country, they would go and see Yasuo for some of his own hand crafted short blades and kusarigama.

And just as Ryuu had said, as soon that the two entered the Fire County borders, they went straight to Yasuo's shop.

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback) ~_~_~_~_~

_Naruto fallowed Ryuu from behind, taking his time to look over the small village that he was not able to do last time he was here three years ago when he was just beginning to travel with Ryuu._

_He observed the people and their smiling faced, the children playing while waiting for their parents to finish shopping, all of the different food stands and shops._

_All too soon did it end as he and Ryuu reach their destination._

_The shop was just like he remembered it; the sign faded even more over, now making it completely impossible to read. A bell still chimed when they entered the small shop, once again alerting Yasuo that he had customers._

_This time, Naruto took the time to look around the shop, something that he did not do last time as well._

_The shop, despite what one would think when looking at it from the outside, was rather large on the inside. _

_Lining the walls of the shop was a wide range of weapons, from simple Kanata to what looked to be staffs that had a three foot blade at the end of it. The five shelves reached up to Ryuu's neck and angled at a way that Yasuo could keep a look out for possible shop lifters. _

_From what Naruto was able to see from his position, the shelves held empty scrolls, kunai, shuriken, scrolls that explained some of the more simple jutsu's that are taught in schools, ink, brushed, and much more._

_Movement caught his eye, and he turned from his inspection to see Yasuo enter from the same door as last time._

_Upon seeing the two, a grin broke out on his face._

"_My, my. What do we have here? The great Ryuu and Naruto decide to grace me with their presence after three years? What an honor."_

_Naruto rolled his eyes as Ryuu chuckled lightly._

"_Hello to you to Yasuo. Been well I hope."_

"_Very. So what can I do for you two today?" He raised an eyebrow along with his question._

"_Oh, not much. Just need to restock some things and get Naruto here some of your hand crafted weapons."_

_Yasuo looked at said child with a smile, eyeing the two short blades on his back and kusarigama at his side._

"_I take it you want me to replace those three with some of my own?"_

_Naruto nodded, answering the question instead of Ryuu._

"_Yes please."_

_The elderly man laughed lightly, walking with cane in hand around his counter and towards the wall opposite of them._

"_Still polite as ever I see. Tell me Naruto, how are those weights working out for you?"_

_Said child grinned, rolling up one sleeve to show the maker of the weights said weights._

"_They are wonderful. They really are amazing devices."_

_Yasuo gave a smug grim as he reached up to take off two set of sheathed twin short blades._

"_Of course they are. I _did_ make them after all."_

_Naruto smiled in amusement while Ryuu gave a pointed look._

"_Be careful there Yasuo, you are beginning to sound full of yourself again. You know what happened the last time _that_ happened."_

_Yasuo's eyebrow twitched as he glared at Ryuu and handed the two blades to the child. "You promised to never speak of that event ever again, dear _friend_."The older man hissed, his cheeks reddening._

_Naruto tuned the two men out, instead studying the blades he now held. Both of the blades sheaths were a plain midnight blue. Placing one of the blades up against the wall, Naruto withdrew the blade he held. The hilt of the blade, just like its sheath, was nothing special, just a simple black. The blade itself, though, had a light engraving on one side of the blade, the other side blank._

_Taking a closer look at the side with the engraving, the eight year old was able to see what it was more clearly._

_Running from the tip of the blade to the hilt was what appeared to be an elegant fox, its face looking out as if it was staring at the child with its lips in a smirk._

_Naruto could not help but run a finger over the design on the short blade. Smiling lightly, he replaces it back within the sheath._

_Looking over at blade leaning against the wall, the child saw that the hilt was also a black. Switching the two blades, Naruto raised an eyebrow when he withdrew the blade only to have Ryuu lean over and take the weapon from his hands. Frowning to show his annoyance, Naruto watched as Ryuu's own eyebrow raised. Naruto took it as a sign that the blade in Ryuu's hand also held an engraving._

_Naruto made a noise in the back of his throat to catch Ryuu's attention. When he received if, he tilted his head to the side, silently asking Ryuu what he saw. Ryuu wasted no time in answering._

"_On this side of the blade, there is an etching." Naruto rolled his eyes, giving the man in front of him a pointed look, 'Well?'_

"_Relax, I'm getting to it." Ryuu turned his gaze back to the blade, bring it closer to his face with his eyes narrowed._

_After a few short seconds, he looked over to Yasuo with a questioning look._

"_It says 'Smirking Foxes are always the Most Dangerous'."_

_Yasuo lat out a small chuckle, amusement clearly shown in his eyes and face. _

"_What can I say? I just happened to see a small fox that I swear was smirking at me the day I made those two blades." He shrugged his shoulder lightly._

_Ryuu shook his head, a smile on his lips. Naruto raised his eyebrow in curiosity, an amused smile also on his face._

"_Well, come on, we still have another weapon to find for you." Yasuo led the way to the far back wall this time. Naruto quickly grabbed the blade still leaning against the wall and handed Ryuu the sheath for the blade he held._

_Reaching the wall, the child's took in all of the sharp looking weapons before his eyes finally landed on a well crafted kusarigama, it looking far better than the one he was using at the moment._

_Naruto eyes glistened with excitement as he gazed at the weapon, taking in the pure silver chains which from the look of it was longer then his. He could see a small ball at one end of the chain and then on the side was what looked to be a sickle but with a chain._

_The handle itself was a deep red, almost a maroon color. The blade, though, unlike his two short blades, looked to have nothing engraved on it._

_Naruto smirked, causing the two adults on either side of him to smile as well._

"_Well," spoke Yasuo, "It looks like you found your third weapon."_

~_~_~_~_~ (Flashback End) ~_~_~_~_~

Naruto was brought out of his musing when he felt Ryuu shake his shoulder.

"Come on, we have to go and meet our newest client." The older of the two spoke, an almost laugh in his voice.

The teen narrowed his eyes at his father figure.

"Hey Ryuu," said man raised an eyebrow as a sign for him to continue, "you never _did_ tell me who our new client is or what he wants us to do."

"Oh I know. It's going to be more fun this way." Ryuu answered Naruto's unasked question, fallowed with a wide grin. "But don't worry; I'm sure that you'll…._enjoy_ it."

The teen eyed the man suspiciously.

"Well then, I guess we should get going."

Ryuu gave a 'dark' chuckle, his eyes glistening with mischief.


	4. Chapter 4

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

* * *

The two had been walking for the past few hours. The entire time with Naruto looking over his surroundings then at the man besides him with a questioningly look in his eyes.

Ryuu chose to ignore the looks, preferring to keep his own eyes ahead of him. Well, that, or he was jus not paying attention to the teen.

Said teen frowned; he was beginning to grow annoyed with Ryuu's constant look of innocence that he had on his face.

Just as he was about to say something, Ryuu beat him to it.

"Well what do ya know, we're almost there."

Naruto turned his gaze from Ryuu to the front of him. What he saw made him raise an eyebrow, silently shocked.

From where he stood, he could see the outline of a great waterfall which lay between two equally large cliff sides. Even though he was not close enough to see, he could already picture the top of the waterfall, from his mind's eye, all of the hundreds of trees that could easily put a great forest to shame.

As they got closer, Naruto finally decided to speak.

"So who hired us in the Hidden Waterfall? I take it that Shibuki is still the village's leader, so is this his doing?" Even though Naruto didn't show it, he was starting to get excited.

Ryuu sighed, giving a fake look of disappointment. Folding his arms, he gave a pout before answering the teenager.

"Ah, it was supposed to be a surprise. How did you find out?"

Naruto resisted the great urge to hit his forehead, something he has been finding himself doing a lot these past years. Instead, he shot Ryuu a light glare.

"First, get that stupid pout off your face; you're not a girl." The pout quickly changed into a grin, amusement clearly in his eyes. "And second, how was it supposed to 'be a surprise'," Naruto did air quotes at this part, "when we're heading to a giant waterfall that leads to said village."

Ryuu gave a weak laugh, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Yeah, I guess that the waterfall does kind of give it away doesn't it…"

The teen rolled his eyes, something else he seems to find himself doing a lot these days, but he also has a smile on his face.

The two walk for a few more minutes before they finally reached the base of the Waterfall.

Ryuu let out a chuckle, glancing at Naruto.

"I take it that you remember the way in?"

Naruto nodded.

"Then after you." Ryuu extended his arm to where it was almost touching the water.

Naruto sighed, glaring at Ryuu lightly, than led the way past the waterfall to the hidden village.

* * *

As the two walked through the main part of the rather large village, with Ryuu taking the lead this time, they both received many warm smiles, waves, and greetings from almost all of the people that are out and about.

They even had a little girl, who looked no older then eight, which came up to them at the insistence of her group of friends. Looking shyly up at them, she gave them each a small flower.

Ryuu chuckled lightly while Naruto could not help but to smile kindly and thank her for the flower beautiful.

She ran back to her friends with a bright red face, but a large smile on her lips as well. Naruto and Ryuu watched as all of the girls squealed loudly, surrounding the young girl that gave them a flower.

Shaking their heads, they continued walking.

Ryuu gave the usual emotionless teen a curious look. Naruto, catching the look, answered the man's unasked question.

"What? You try not smiling to the little girl." Even though Naruto's voice seemed to be void of emotions, Ryuu was able to pick up on the teen's embarrassment.

Ryuu smiled lightly, though he silently agreed with Naruto.

It was not long before the two arrived at their destination.

Both Naruto and Ryuu nodded to the two shinobi that stood on either side of the double doors. Naruto silently looked them over, taking in their appearance to determine their skill level the best he could. He guessed high chunin, low jounin at most.

Walking past the two no opened doors, then by-passed the front desk, only sparing the women working at it a nod before moving towards the set of stairs.

On the second floor, it looked like a plain hall that had a total of five doors on each side of the wall. On the other end was the second set of stairs.

Walking towards them, they passed a few of the ninja that were on the floor, though none of them stopped Naruto or Ryuu. They simply stopped what they were doing, smiled or nodded, then went back to work.

Quickly walking up the stairs, they stepped into what looked like a large waiting room. Against one wall was a few chairs, a slightly larger then usual desk with an elderly man working behind, and a pair of large double doors on the wall opposite of them with two jounin ranked shinobi standing on either side of. The two guards looked them over once, then nodded and smiled lightly.

Unlike the first floor, Naruto and Ryuu went over to the desk.

The elderly man looked up at them and he grinned.

"About time you two came and visited us. So what is it boys, business or pleasure?" He leaned back in his chair, looking back and fourth between the two, the grin never leaving his face.

Ryuu gave a dramatic sigh. "You know what they say; business before pleasure sadly. Shibuki-Sama contacted me a few days ago. It seems that he wants the two of us to help out on an important mission."

The elderly man raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, if that's the case, then good luck! Shibuki -Sama's not busy, so go on in." He spoke, nodding to the two guards at the doors.

Nodding back, one knocked on the door before he opened it silently.

Naruto and Ryuu both thanked the man behind the desk and went over to the double doors, walking though the now opened one.

Ryuu entered first, Naruto fallowing at his own pace. Once the two were both inside, the door closed just as silently as when they opened.

Naruto looked over the rather large room; looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Covering three of the walls, including the one behind him, were pictures and paintings that told of the now large and grand village. Some were of the past leaders; others were paintings of what the village use to look like. There was even one painting of the great waterfall itself.

Off to one side, there was a somewhat large couch that faced them, a stand beside it that help an ancient looking scroll which Naruto knew contained the village's long history, from when it was built up till now. In front of him sat a rather large desk, much larger then the one the elderly man was using just outside the double doors.

In front of the desk were two large, pleasant looking chairs. The wall, unlike the other three, had two large windows, one on either side of the desk.

The older teen sitting behind the desk looked up at them and smiled both kindly and widely. His eyes were a coal black, as well as his hair. His hair was tired back with a long blue ribbon, resting between his shoulder blades. The shirt that he was wearing was a teal color. He had what looked like a shoulder pad on one shoulder, while the other did not. His village's headband was tied around his forehead.

"Naruto! Ryuu! You've finally arrived. I was beginning to worry you didn't get my message."

Naruto and Ryuu bowed lightly to the man before them, both of them returning the smile, though Naruto's was barley there.

"It's good to see you to Shibuki-Sama. It's been some time since we've been here."

Shibuki playfully glared at Ryuu, "Come on Ryuu, I've told you two that you don't have to add the Sama. It's bad enough that everyone else calls me it."

Naruto rolled his eyes, taking on an appalled voice. "Your right, heaven forbid people _like_ and _respect_ you!"

Ryuu stifled a laugh while Shibuki's eye twitched and he truly glared at Naruto. "You know what I meant Naruto."

Said teen just shrugged and acted like he could care less.

"You know, Shibuki, if looks could kill, I'd have a small paper like cut on my little finger." Naruto held up one of his hands pinky finger for effects.

Shibuki's twitch grew. His glare deepened.

A cough interrupted the two teens from possibly starting a fight. The two looked back at Ryuu.

"Now that I have both of your attention, may we move on and get to why you called us here please?"

Shibuki gave Naruto one last glare before looking back at Ryuu.

Naruto hid a grin with the skills that he achieved over time while doing a mental victory dance.

Ryuu, as if knowing what he was thinking, jabbed his elbow in his side.

Naruto shot Ryuu his own glare, rubbing his side as he did so.

Said man didn't even acknowledge the look he was getting, instead placing his full attention on Shibuki.

"So, Ryuu, I take it that you have yet to tell Naruto what I want you two to do yet?"

Ryuu shook his head, grinning slightly.

Naruto raised his eyebrow lightly, not getting a good feeling from that grin. He turned his attention to Shibuki as well, and for the first time noticed that he was glancing at him nervously.

Naruto frowned.

Shibuki silently pleaded with Ryuu to tell the younger teen. Ryuu, after a few seconds, sighed and nodded. He turned his head to Naruto with a sheepish look on his face now.

"Well, you see, the chunin exams are coming up soon, and Takigakure is going to be taking part of it." Ryuu looked back at Shibuki, signaling for him to continue.

Shibuki also gave a sigh before continuing where Ryuu left off.

"And even though since your last visit here, when you and Ryuu saved us from Suien and his followers those three years ago, we have stepped up our training, but I still fear that our village is still going to be one of the weakest there. So, as I was going over who to send with the village council, a member brought you two up. His idea was to have you two pretend as two of our shinobi, just for the exams, and help represent us. And since everyone believes Takigakure to still be one of the weakest villages, they will most likely end up underestimating us. Now, if you don't wish to, you won't have to actually fight unless really needed. We also want to ask if you can watch over your 'teammates'. The two teammates that you'll have to work with will be our top two genin, so all you'll really have to do is make sure that they don't die or get to badly injured."

Shibuki started at Naruto intently, knowing that his answer would also be Ryuu's.

Said teen was looking just as intently at Shibuki, mulling over what was just said. After a few seconds, he spoke.

"And if I'm to be one of the genin, what is Ryuu's job in all this?"

Shibuki didn't miss a beat answering. "He will be acting as your jounin teacher.

Naruto nodded. He asked one more question.

"Where are the exams taking place this year?"

Shibuki turned his head, not really wanting to answer, knowing the younger teen's past already.

Ryuu, too, was not looking forward to this question, but see as how Shibuki really did not wish to, he answered Naruto.

"Naruto," said teen looked at Ryuu with a curious gaze, "It's being held in Konohagakure. Your birth village.

Naruto visibly flinched.

* * *

Naruto and Ryuu entered the hotel room that they rented for during their stay at Takigakure. The hotel room was decent looking, having two beds and a large sliding glass window that led to a small balcony.

Naruto flopped down on one of the beds, his grace gone the moment the door closed. He closed his eyes, ignoring the feeling of his weapons digging into him at different parts of his body.

Ryuu looked worriedly at the teen, torn between wanting to go over to comfort him or giving him his space to sort out his emotions.

In the end, Ryuu settled with sitting on his own bed, looking at the teen.

"You know Naruto," Ryuu spoke slowly; "You don't have to do this mission. If you want, we can go back to Shibuki and tell his that you changed your mind. I'm sure he'll understand."

Naruto stayed quite. Ryuu was just about to add more, but didn't get a chance when the teen finally spoke.

"No…" He spoke so quietly that Ryuu had to sit foreword in order to hear him better. "I told Shibuki that I'll do this mission, so I'll do it." He sighed lightly.

"It's just…" Naruto trailed off, finally opening his eyes. It looked like he was searching for the right words. After a few seconds, he continued. "Weird I guess. Having not been there in all of these years. I can barely even remember the place. And what I do remember makes my blood boil, thinking of how I was treated. How the supposed leader just kind of forgot about me. When ever I try to picture the place, I always picture the hateful glares and sneers that I would get from both the adults and the children. I can remember having to live on the streets since I was not allowed in the orphanage. I can still picture a younger me rummaging through garbage cans behind restaurants, searching for food to eat."

Naruto sat up, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed. He was staring at his hands.

"It just seems that all of the memories that I have of that place seems to be the terrible. I just can't bring myself to remember one signal good thing about living there."

Ryuu gazed sadly at the teen across from his. Yes, he knew about what Naruto had to go through when he had to live there, but Naruto never went into that much detail about his old life. And Ryuu could respect that, so he tried to never bring it up.

At first, when Ryuu first got the message from Shibuki about a mission that he needed their help on, he was excited. He knew that Naruto enjoyed visiting the older teen, what with them knowing each other since Naruto was seven years old. In fact, Shibuki and his father are one of the few people that knew both of their pasts, or as much as each was willing to tell others.

Then he read the short summary about the mission itself.

Even though he appeared happy and calm when telling the teen of the mission, on the inside, his mind was racing though all of the possible outcomes of the teen's reaction when he found out.

The reaction that did happen was one of the betters one. Still, though, Ryuu felt slightly angry at Shibuki for asking them to do the mission in the first place, though he knew he shouldn't be.

Ryuu sighed lightly, still looking at the teen.

He was once again going to say something but was once again beaten by Naruto.

"Ryuu," his voice sounded determined; "I'm going through with this mission. I need to do it. I need to face them. To prove to myself that things have changed and I'm no longer that five year old that can be pushed around."

Naruto turned his eyes to lock with Ryuu's.

"Please, Ryuu, let me do this."

Ryuu looked into the teens eyes, searching for anything that might make him deny the teen's request. After a few long seconds, Ryuu sighed and closed his own eyes.

"Alright. Just, promise me. Promise me that if it becomes too much for you, that you'll tell me and we'll leave. No questions asked. Okay?" He opened his eyes, looking intently at the teen.

Naruto smiled lightly, nodding.

"Promise."

Ryuu nodded back, than stood. He suddenly ginned down at the still sitting Naruto.

"So what do you say we go and met our new teammates? Eh?"

Naruto returned the grin, standing up as well.

"Sounds like a plan."

Ryuu lifted his hand and ruffled Naruto's hair, making the teen frown at him. Batting at Ryuu's hand, Naruto tried to fix his now messed up hair. Ryuu chuckled, watching the teen fuss over his hair.

Walking over towards the door, he looked back at Naruto.

"Come on, let's head out."

Naruto huffed, but fallowed after Ryuu.

"So where did Shibuki say we could find them at?"

Ryuu made a noise in the back of his throat, thinking.

"I'm pretty sure that he said at the training ground eight."

The teen nodded, than asked another question to the man in front of him. "So where _is_ training ground eight?"

Ryuu visibly faltered before stopping. He looked over their surroundings a few times. Naruto waited patiently.

After a few minutes, Ryuu finally answered Naruto's question.

"Hmm, good question."

Naruto couldn't help it. He tried to resist the urge, but it won out in the end. He slapped Ryuu on the back of the head; hard.

He smiled lightly, not caring that people were watching them with amused expressions. Ryuu landed on the ground, face first.

'_Ah, that felt good'_ Naruto thought, snickered lightly. He walked past the dazed man, heading towards a random direction, hoping it to be the way to the training grounds.


	5. Chapter 5

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

* * *

After about an hour of random wondering, asking directions, and trying to locate the training ground that they need, Naruto finally got a retired shinobi to show him the way. Along the way, they came upon Ryuu who was pacing with an angry look on his face. After Ryuu got through 'talking' to Naruto about how rude it is to hit someone then wonder off, he too fallowed the retired shinobi.

When they finally arrived, both Naruto's and Ryuu's eye twitched.

Turns out, the training ground was only a few streets away from their hotel. In fact, from where they stood, they could even see the top of the building. Naruto resisted this time on hitting Ryuu, instead, kicking his back.

Naruto thanked the nervously smiling old man for showing them the way, seeing as how Ryuu was….busy.

Once their guide was out of sight, Naruto looked over his surroundings. The training ground looked like a small clearing in a forest. Off to one side, there was a tree stump that was made into a kicking post, and some targets, both small and large hanging from some of the trees at different heights and angles. On the other side, there was a flat surface of plain dirt. Up ahead was a very small pond, about the length of both Naruto and Ryuu and width of just one of them. Though small, it served its purpose by providing water.

A very small noise from one of the tree's caught his attention; though Naruto was not able to investigate it (he had a feeling on what, or better yet _who_ it was) what with Ryuu standing next to him, dirt and grass stains on both him and his clothes with his arms crossed over his chest. His eye was twitching and he was glaring at the teen, a glare that spoke of death if pushed any farther.

"What. Was. _That._ For?!"

Naruto, ignoring his instincts that were basically yelling at him to run, simply gave him a blank look. After a few seconds, during which Ryuu got red in the face with anger, Naruto thought it was time to finally speak.

"What was what for?"

Naruto barely dodged the fist that was aimed at his face. Quickly jumping back, he blocked one of Ryuu's powerful kicks that were aimed at his chest this time with his arms. Naruto gritted his teeth. Throwing the leg back, he stepped left, feeling the sharp kunai graze his cheek.

Now Naruto was no idiot; he knew that what he said was going to make Ryuu mad. That's the reason why he said it. He also knew that the two hiding in the large tree to the right of him were his new teammates. The teen figured that if they were trying to hide from them, it must be for a somewhat good reason. Because really, who hid from _them_? Though he rather hated it, both Ryuu and he were treated like heroes in the village, so it was as if _everyone_ wanted to meet them at least once. So, he provoked Ryuu into fighting him. Not that hard really either, which he found sad. Then again, there is always the slim chance that Ryuu caught his train of thought so is just going along with it.

The now emotionless teen dodged another punch, and then quickly crouched to avoid Ryuu's swinging leg. Naruto actually felt the fabric of Ryuu's pants brush his hair, causing him to mentally gulp.

'_Then again, he might not have caught on and is really trying to hit me'_ One never knows when it comes to Ryuu…

To dodge Ryuu's leg sweep Naruto was quick jump back. Landing a few feet away from the mad dragon, the teen finally decided to fight back.

Or he would have, if he was not caught by a pair of arms. With a kunai held against his neck by a clone of Ryuu, he sighed, though on the inside curious.

"When did you have the time to make the clone? I was watching you the entire time and never saw you make the seals, neither one handed or two."

Said clone removed the deadly weapon from his neck, popping out of existence since his job was done.

The real Ryuu stood from the crouching position the he was still in from his attempt at a leg sweep.

"In the very beginning actually. Since I had an idea on what was going to happen when you not so kindly kicked me, I was able to make a clone while you were looking over our surroundings. Before I gained your attention, I sent the clone into the trees surrounding us." Ryuu pointed to the trees behind Naruto, which happened to be across from the two that were still hiding in the trees.

Naruto's mouth made an O shape, finally understanding.

Here, Ryuu smirked. "Well, it appears that I still have some things to teach you after all." His smirk grew, making Naruto frown lightly. "And here I thought that you would have been able to tell it was there straight away. What's the matter _Fox_?" He stressed the word fox, his smirk now a full blown grin. "Losing your edge already?"

Naruto snorted, one of his rare moments of showing emotion in public when he knew for a fact that others were around. It always seemed that he showed more facial expression and emotions when inside this village. There was just something about it that made him feel as if he could drop his hard and cold appearance, if only for a little bit.

What's more, he really didn't care. In fact, he enjoyed the feeling.

"Please, Ryuu. If it wasn't for the fact that I was in the middle of going to investigate those two little birdies," he nodded his head towards the tree they were still sitting in, "then trust me, I would have not only noticed, but I would have gotten rid of it as well."

"Ah, ah, ah." He shook his finger, as if scolding a baby. "That's no excuse. You should have been able to at the least sense the clone. Come on now, I've trained you better then that."

By now the two of them were walking over to the tree that their temporally teammates were in. The two continued talking, Ryuu saying what they could do to up his training and Naruto either agreeing or disagreeing with the ideas.

Ryuu was the first to actual see them. He simply smiled and kept on talking.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun!"

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the man. Leaning against the tree, not even spearing the two in it a glace, he responded.

"No and that's my final answer. Swimming in a mile long lake that's infested with alligators and Kami knows what else with no use of charka does _not_ sound like fun. So, no!"

Ryuu attempted to pout, causing a twitch to appear by his eye.

"Fine, so the lakes out. How about I knock you out, blindfold you, then I ditch you in the middle of a snow storm and see how long it takes you to find your way back. Naked of course."

"Ryuu…" Naruto growled out, his twitch increasing as well as his glare.

Ryuu simply waved it off, use to the teen and his glare. Though, Ryuu noticed with amusement, how the two above them stiffened, as if waiting for another fight to break out.

Since he was already glancing at the two, he took in their appearance. He had to do a double take, noticing how they were twins.

He resisted an urge to raise an eyebrow. _'Shibuki never said anything about twins. Well, then again, he didn't even tell us their names…'_

There was a boy and a girl, both of which seemed to be around Nauto's age, maybe a year younger. The girl was wearing a blood red short sleeve shirt, a black strip running down her left sleeve. The pants that she was wearing, much like her shirt, was a blood red and also had a black line running down the pant leg, but instead of on her left leg, it was on her right. Her plain black hair was shoulder length and straight, nothing really special about it, which in his mind, how it should be. On her right thigh, blending in her the black strip was her kunai and shuriken pouch. Attached to her hip was what looked to be a metal bottle, and if he had to guess, water was inside of it. On her back was a plain looking kanata.

Much like his twin, the boy had the same exact outfit with only two changes. The sides that the black strips are on switch and his own kunai and shuriken pouch was on his left leg, blending in with the black strip. Attached to his hip on the opposite side as his sister was an identical looking metal bottle. The kanata on his back made it so that he could grip its handle with his left hand unlike his sister's who's made it so she could grab it with her right.

Naruto too noticed their stiffness, though he felt it more then saw it.

Ryuu, wanting to see how long this would go, continued.

"Fine, fine. You can have a cloak. How about that?"

Naruto, actually having fun on the inside, was about to shoot back a response but was beaten to it.

"Are you two insane?!" The female's voice rang out. Both Naruto and Ryuu casually looked up to meet their new teammate's horrified look. Ryuu was grinning madly, making him look more insane, while Naruto raised an eyebrow. He, just like Ryuu had done only moments before, was looking them over. He was silently surprised that they were twins, but to him that just meant that they should have excellent teamwork and coordination when in battle. He liked them already. That and they were wearing his favorite two colors.

Ryuu was the first to answer, Naruto right behind.

"But of course we are."

"And enjoying every minute of it as well."

The two in the tree and the two on the ground stare at each other, the twins wondering if they were really their village's heroes. Finally, Naruto speaks, breaking the slight awkward silence between the four.

"So…you two coming down or what?" He tilts his head slightly, a questioning look in his eyes.

The two in the tree share a look then look back at Naruto and Ryuu sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah." The boy spoke this time.

Naruto and Ryuu took a couple steps back, giving them enough room so they could get down.

The two jumped from the tree, landing in a crouched position. As they stood, Ryuu took over talking.

"So I'm hoping that Shibuki has told you of the mission?"

The two twins nodded, still giving Naruto and Ryuu weary looks. Naruto mentally nodded to himself, pleased.

'_So even though Ryuu and I have become one of the village's 'heroes' they are still not trusting us right away. Good'_

"So, you know then that we'll be 'teammates' for a little more then a month right?"

Again they nodded.

Ryuu crossed his arms, nodding happily.

"Good. Then I only have one more question for you two."

The twins looked at him expectantly, curiosity shown in their matching green eyes.

Here Ryuu looked a bit sheepish. He scratched his cheek, looking from one to the other.

"What are your names?"

The twin's faces turned blank. The only sign of annoyance that they no doubt felt was the slight frown on the girls face and the light twitch on the boys.

"Shibuki-Sama didn't tell you…?" The male asked.

Naruto coughed, looking away while Ryuu continued to look sheepish.

"Well, in his defense, he never really got a chance. You see…when the two of us accepted the mission, we got interrupted by another shinobi. So in the end, Shibuki just told us where to find you two…" Ryuu didn't really lie to them; he just stretched the truth a little bit. Yeah. Right.

Truth was that when Naruto found out where the mission was to take place, it was as if his brain shut down for a few minutes. Then, he was acting as if one on auto-pilot would. Both Ryuu and Shibuki were worried, so they held off talking any more about it. Shibuki sent the two to the hotel, telling Ryuu where he could find their teammates for the mission. When they were walking towards the hotel, Naruto slowly came out of his auto-pilot. See? Only stretching the truth…

The twins gave them questioning looks, not sure on wither to trust their word or not, but nodded none the less.

The male started to answer. "Well, as you can see we're brother and sister."

"So we work rather well together. Since we use almost all of the same jutsu's and have the same taijutsu style, when we graduated a month ago, we were put on the same team." The female took over.

Here they both looked a bit sheepish and a bit embarrassed.

"The problem, though, is that we never got a third teammate." The girl started.

"You see, our class had an odd number, making it so that one team would have only two genins and a jounin." The boy continued.

"They chose the two of us because they thought that since we already work so well together and are in such synch, that if they _did_ add another member to our team, we would most likely not work as well, what with having someone else to worry about while on a mission." Back to the girl.

"So yeah." They both spoke.

Though out their explanation towards the end, both Naruto and Ryuu looked between the two when they spoke, wondering how they were able to talk like they did.

"So I understand the need to have Naruto here on your team, but if what you two just said is true, and I'm not saying I don't believe you two, but if you two already have a jounin, then where is he or she?" Ryuu asked in a confused tone. Naruto was wondering the same thing, though didn't show it besides a raised eyebrow when Ryuu asked.

The male shrugged, as if it were not that important "Well, Fusao-Sensei and a few of the other jounin's left about two weeks ago for a long term mission. Before he left, he told us that they should be gone for about three months."

The girl sighed dramatically, continuing where her brother left off. "So before we got this mission, we're been basically been going from team to team to join them on their own mission. Not much fun really."

Her brother nodded, showing that he agreed. "Especially when all of the other guys hate me and love my sister and all of the girls hate my sister but love me. Simply. Annoying."

"Ouch. I can see why you guys are doing this mission then. Not only do you two get away from the other teams, but you also get a chance at becoming chunin." Spoke Ryuu.

Naruto, though he couldn't help but feel a small amount of pity for the twins, wanted to laugh at their situation. But, he resisted the urge, instead getting them back on track.

"Excuse me, but may we please get back to introductions? It would be nice to know the names of my future teammates."

The twins blushed lightly, the boy laughing nervously.

"Sorry. Well, my name's Akimitsu Takahashi." The boys bowed lightly.

"And my name is Akimi Takahashi." The girl copied her brother, giving Naruto and Ryuu a light bow.

Ryuu smiled kindly while Naruto just nodded.

"Well, as you two may or may not know, my name is Ryuu. Mr. Silent over there is Naruto. Though, not to be rude, I have to please ask you two to not say our real names outside of your village. So please address me as simply Sensei until we come up with something else. Same with Naruto, though while here just call us by our names." He scratched his cheek, looking apologetic at the two.

"No problem, but may I ask why?" Akimi asked, tilting her head slightly.

Naruto answered this time, meeting her curious gaze.

"Two reasons really. One," He held up one finger, "Ryuu here happens to be a wanted man. Though not that many, we still have the few odd bunch of shinobi that come after us for his head. Apparently over the years he's gathered quite the bounty." Here he held up another finger. "And two, like Ryuu, I too have gathered a bounty, though not as much as Ryuu. So, we like to try to keep our real names out of the bingo book since if certain people knew them, we'll have a hell of a lot more bounty nin's after us. And maybe some hunter nin's as well."

Akimitsu crossed his arms over his chest, thinking over their answer. After a few seconds he spoke.

"But, that doesn't make any sense. Why would having your names in the bingo book be such a big deal? I mean, don't they already have photos of you two? So why would knowing your real names make a difference?"

Naruto once again answered, not even giving Ryuu a chance to talk.

"Because they _don't_ have any pictures of us. At least, not some that actually looks like us. When ever we get a new mission, we always change our appearance so we never really look the same. Really, the only thing that stays constant about our looks is our outfits and weapons so that people know that we are who we say we are. So, people only know us as our other names, the Deadly Fox and Vicious Dragon. "

Here, Ryuu took over.

"As for why our names are so important, as you might or might not know my birth place was Suna. After I left, the Kazekage sent out many hunter nin squads to either kill me or bring me back. After a while, I came across Naruto here. That's when I felt that enough was enough. So, I came up with a plan to make them think that I killed myself.

"I'll admit, it took a while, but I was finally able to pull it off. I lead a sole hunter nin, I having killed his other three teammates, to a large cliff side. It had to be at least over a hundred foot drop to an angry ocean below. Now, while we were running, I was able to lose the hunter nin for about thirty seconds, but that was all of the time that I needed. In the thirty seconds, I quickly made an earth clone that took my place. Now you have to realize that this hunter nin and I had been running almost none stop for about three days, so we were both tired. That one reason may have been why I was able to make a clone without him noticing.

"Watching from the distance, I was able to see the hunter nin corner my clone on the edge of the cliff. The two talked, the hunter nin pulling out his weapon; a standard kanata. My clone pulled out nothing.

"Finally, after what seemed like forever to me, my clone started to back up to the point where it was literally standing on the edge of the cliff. Then, my clone fell back, a smile on its face."

Both Akimi and Akimitsu's eyes were wide, giving Ryuu their full attention as if they were hearing an epic tale. Naruto smiled lightly, resisting the great urge to chuckle at the sight.

"Then what happened?" asked Akimi, her eyes sparkling in respect.

Ryuu puffed out his chest, trying and failing to look impressive, at least to Naruto.

"Why he bought it of course! After rushing to the cliff's edge to watch my clone fall and hit the water, he waited around for a few minutes, and then walked slowly away. Pretty dramatic if you ask me."

Naruto rolled his eyes, not able to resist the urge this time.

"Anyways, may we please move on? We do have a mission to get ready for after all." Naruto spoke in a bored tone. All of the eyes snapped to him, Ryuu looking slightly upset at having the attention stolen away from him, and the twins looking at him as if he were their jounin replacement.

Coughing lightly to hide his embarrassment at the sudden attention, he continued.

"Now, the chunin exams start in two weeks time, so we should leave as soon as possible. Since it's a three day walk, we should have enough time to look over the village and get use to the surroundings. You two can also meet some of the other chunin wannabes."

The twins nodded, as well did Ryuu who was used to his bossy nature. Naruto continued.

"So that means that you two should go and gather everything thing that you wish to bring. Pack enough things to last for about a month's time. When you two have everything, come to Shibuki-Sama's office. From there, we'll head out."

Once again, he got three head nods. Though, Akimi looked at Ryuu curiously.

Ryuu, guessing the unasked question, spoke.

"You might as well listen to him. Even though I'm the adult, Naruto seems to have a better mind when it comes to planning out these types of things. Over the years, I've learned to just listen to what he suggests. It usually gets us out of tight spots or saves us time in some way or another."

Her mouth made an O shape. Smiling at Ryuu and Naruto, who was watching the two with a raised eyebrow, ran to catch up with her brother.

Sighing, Ryuu and Naruto began to head to their hotel to gather their things.

"This should be fun." The teen mumbled lowly to himself.

Ryuu, hearing him, smiled.

'_That it should.'_


	6. Chapter 6

Summary: Orphaned at birth then kicked out to the streets sat the tender age of four, nothing seems to be going right for young Naruto. That is, until, a winter storm comes, forcing Naruto to seek Shelter in one of the many training grounds. Just as Luck would have it, another man was also seeking refuge in the same training ground. What happens when that man finds an underweight, undersized, and over all pitiable looking five year old sleeping under a large oak tree? Will the two finally find happiness, or is it all just another façade?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

**Author's Note:** ~Coughs~ So, I just not realized that I did not properly look over this chapter… Yeah. So here is the _correct_ version. There are no major changes, I just went back and fixed all of the '[Insert name here]' things… Sorry about that ^-^'

* * *

Naruto and Ryuu sat in front of Shibuki's desk, going over some of the more important details concerning the mission that they were not able to talk about before. The three decided to inform the Takahashi twins what they discussed while traveling to Konoha instead of wasting more time by waiting for them to arrive and then re-explain things.

Naruto and Ryuu already received the headbands that showed that they were real shinobi of the village, both tying them around their foreheads. After that they moved on and began talking about the Takahashi twin's skills so that Naruto could get an idea of what he was working with before hand. In the end, Shibuki told him some of their known strengths and weaknesses.

One of their weaknesses was the use of genjutsu, but not how one would think when first told of it.

It appeared that in some weird, twisted way, fate decided to give Akimi the ability to be able to create powerful genjutsu's, but unable to sense them or dispel them even if her life depended on it.

Akimitsu, on the other hand, is able to sense them without even a second though, but unable to make even the simplest of illusions.

Usually, this would be a good thing; having one person able to make powerful illusions, and another able to both sense them and disable them, but in this case it only seemed to mess with the twin's heads and leave them irritated to no end with themselves and each other.

Some of Akimi and Akimitsu's strengths though are their pin point accuracy and skills with their Kanata's.

Naruto and Ryuu even found out what the metal containers at the twins hips were for as well.

Shibuki explained to them that the Takahashi clan trained themselves to the point where they could, to an extent, bend any form of both water and any other for of liquid to their will. They could not do it without charka, of course, but it took very little for them. In a way, it acted as the clan's Kekkei Genkai since others that attempted it were able to do it yes, but the cost was that of great charka use and they would only most likely be able to control small amounts and for only a short period of time.

The amount of water that the clan could 'control' varied from person to person as well as how long they were able to keep it up without running out of charka, with was more so for beginners of the clan, or fainting from exhaustion with happened to some of the younger clan members if used hours on end.

For example, some of the clan elders have enough control over the ability to command water in greater volumes then those just starting out and able to maintain the control for a few hours before they begin to feel the effects of charka drainage. For Akimi and Akimitsu, since they started learning younger then most, they could each control about the size of a small swimming pool, give or take a few gallons and could maintain the control for only a little under an hour, though they were improving as time went.

When that conversation was done and over with, Naruto, Ryuu, and Shibuki began discussing the names that the two were going to be using while on the mission. This one was, by far, not going nearly as well as the last conversation.

Ryuu leaned back in one of the two chairs that sat before Shibuki's desk, rubbing his temples with a scowl on his face. Naruto was not much better, though he hid his annoyance much better then his 'father'.

"So," Ryuu started out, his eyes now closed, "let me get this straight; your village council wants Naruto and I to _not only_ go to Konohagakure to help your genin pass the chunin exams, helping them become chunin and gain some recantation for your village as a whole, but now your saying that you want us to go as Fox and Dragon? The two deadly assassins who also happen to be S-Class Missing Nin? Both of whom who just so happen to have some of the highest bounties in the Bingo Book? Are your council members insane?!?" He threw his arms in the air, eyes snapping open to glare at Shibuki.

Naruto would have commented on Ryuu's rude behavior and loud voice had he not fully agreed with the man. On the inside, he was throwing his own mini tantrum even though on the outside all that was visible was a slight twitch in his right hand which rested on his lap.

If Shibuki was completely honest with himself, he was more scared of Naruto's calm yet cold appearance then Ryuu and his virtual yelling. Nothing's scarier then Naruto hiding his emotions from _him_ of all people.

Something that he took great pride in was the fact that he was one of the very, _very_ few people that was able to truly gained the other teen's trust and become something akin to a friend to the blonde, so Naruto almost never hid his true emotions or thoughts from him unless others, beside Ryuu, were present. He had to hold back a shudder.

Yes, _much_ scarier.

Coughing lightly to clear his suddenly dry throat, he tried to calmly answer Ryuu's 'question'. Keyword here: Tried.

"Yes, that is what the council wishes to do. As far as the other villages will know, you two have joined our shinobi rank which clears you of your Missing Nin status for the time being. We even went ahead and contacted our country's Feudal Lord before hand, telling him of our plan and he was more than happy to help us in any way that he could if you two accepted the mission. So we now have a signed document with his seal which states that yes, you two are Takigakure shinobi; Ryuu being of jounin rank and Naruto of genin rank. We even have yet another copy ready for you inside a folder that also holds your four passes, reason for entering the village, and basic information on you four. For you two, all that was put down was your codenames Fox and Dragon, your choice of weapons that most people already know of, and a very small description of your past that only includes your Missing Nin status, some of the known jobs that you two have done, and small tid-bits of random information.

"All in all, you two will be untouchable from any of the villages if it is not part of the chunin exams or unless they wish to break our peace treaty and begin a war. And with our forces getting both larger and stronger, we would be able to give them a hell of a time. We may not be fully able to win a war just yet, but that doesn't mean that we would go down without taking a good chuck of them with us. But hopefully, we won't have to resort to that." Shibuki spoke, his voice getting stronger and more confident the more he explained and almost prideful towards the end.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the ground, deep in though, trying to find anything that would cause any un-needed problems for either Ryuu and he, or Shibuki and his village. He really did not want a war to start over them just because someone might try something stupid or 'heroic'.

Thinking over everything that he was just told carefully, he was unable to find anything and could only hope that no one was dim-witted enough to in fact try something against him or Ryuu during their stay. Looking back at his childhood friend, Naruto gave him a questioning look, eyebrow raised.

"So I take it that you have already sent all of the needed documents to the different villages, telling them that we are no longer Missing Nin and that we wish to participate?" Naruto asked casually, no longer upset about the request. In fact, he was almost looking forward to the mission more then ever. Oh how much _fun_ it will be to return to his birth village as the legendary assassin Deadly Fox and partner assassin Vicious Dragon with them none the wiser on who either truly are. He smirked at the thought.

Shibuki was torn between being relieved that Naruto was back to showing his emotions or frightened by the smirk on his face, not for himself, but for those that the other teen might be thinking of. He answered his question none the less though.

"Yes. When you two accepted the mission, I had various copy's sent out to the other villages, telling them and also had a letter sent to the Hokage telling him that you two will be coming to the exams as well. I also asked the Hokage to tell his shinobi that you two are coming, but asked him to not tell them from what village. Though I should tell you, because of your past Missing Nin status, either one or both of you might be called in to meet with the Hokage; not to mention that you two might be watched the moment you step inside the village and they find out who you two really are."

Naruto and Ryuu nodded, thinking the same thing. Though that thought only made them both look more and more forward to the mission.

"Very well then, we'll go as Fox and Dragon." Ryuu announced smiling widely yet dangerously all the same if at all possible.

Shibuki smiled back lightly, very much relived that they accepted without to much of a fight.

He was about to say his thanks when one of the double doors opened. The three of them turned to look as Akimi and Akimitsu walked in and from the looks of it, packed and ready to go. Nothing really changed about their outfit besides the addition of their own headbands which were also on their foreheads, a backpack on their backs, a scroll on each of their hips that was not taken by the metal water bottle, and both of their hair pulled up and out of their faces. If not for the fact that Akimi has a more feminine facial structure and breasts, one would not be able to tell one from the other.

The door closed, and the four future team members all just started at each other, much like when they first came face to face at the training ground.

Naruto, getting bored with his stare down with Akimitsu, turned back to Shibuki who was watching them with out right amusement.

"Well Shibuki-Sama, it seems that we are ready to leave." He stood, motioning for Ryuu to do the same which he did without hesitation.

Shibuki nodded with a slight twitch by his eye at being called Sama once again by the blonde, though said nothing of it this time since others were present.

"Very well." He smiled kindly at the four of them, his annoyance gone in a flash. "Good luck you guys. Show those other nin what the hidden waterfall village is really capable of!"

The twins grinned broadly, Ryuu smiled, and Naruto smirked lightly.

"Yes Shibuki-Sama!" All four of them spoke, the twins bowing lowly while Ryuu and Naruto bowed lightly.

Shibuki watched as they left his office, still smiling. When the doors finally shut, he let out a low sigh. Leaning back in his chair, he stared at the ceiling.

"Stay safe all of you…" He mumbled out, his smile dropping lightly, but still there.

* * *

The four stood a few feet in front of Konohagakure's mighty double doors, gazing past them into the village that the walls protected. They each had different points of view on the village. Akimi and Akimitsu's eyes were wide with awe, while Ryuu and Naruto's were narrowed with resentment though one would not be able to tell with the blonde.

Like Naruto had said, it took them three days to reach the village, and during those three days, Naruto and Ryuu went over with them what Shibuki told them while they were packing.

To say that the twins were shocked would be an understatement. Finding out that the two of them were going to be going by Fox and Dragon was one thing, but what really shocked them was the fact that they were going to be going as themselves. No henge's, no disguises, nothing. Besides Ryuu's and Naruto's Waterfall headbands, Naruto's new black mask that had a red smirking mouth with a few fangs showing that resembled a foxes, covering both his mouth and nose and stopping just below his eyes, they changed nothing.

When they asked why they were going as themselves, Ryuu answered for the both of them.

"_Well, Fox's reason is to see if anyone will be able to recognize him at all. After all, before I found him and took him in, he use to live there. My reason is since Fox is going to be appearing as himself, to be fare, so will I. Besides, we just kind of figured that it's about time to appear as ourselves for once, you know?"_

Ryuu also said that the reason that Naruto started to wear a mask as they grew closer was because of the markings on he cheeks. If he was to walk in Konoha with them showing, it would be a clear give away on who he was, and as Naruto said, '_Where's the fun in that?'_

Also during the three days, they spent the time to really get to know one another and for Naruto and Ryuu to get use to the way that Akimi and Akimitsu speak back and forth, finishing each other's sentences.

Even though neither Naruto nor Ryuu told them everything about them, they did tell the twins enough to get them to trust them more. Ryuu described some of Naruto's past training experiences and how the two met, though he left out some parts that he felt should not be discussed out in the open, even if they were alone.

Naruto even showed the twins his weights on his wrists and ankles when he told them about how he acquired them and how they worked. The twins were amazed and when they asked how much they now weighed, Naruto replied with a blank stare then after a few seconds, he said a simple _'Your guess is as good as mine'_.

Naruto also told them of some of Ryuu and his past missions that weren't to horrifying.

One of Ryuu's favorite was how a few years back, when Naruto was twelve and they were still traveling from country to country, they arrived at a poor looking village that use to be full of life in the water country. Both being there before and knowing how it use to be, they went and visited the town's bridge builder who Ryuu became friends with on their last visit.

As it turned out, Gato, a corrupt business man, decide to come and overtake their small village. Tazuna, the bridge builder, was even getting ready to go and ask Konoha for help, but Naruto, to Ryuu's great surprise, stopped Tazuna. He told him that he would help them instead and for free. Ryuu, finally coming out of his shock, also agreed to help, saying that if Naruto really wanted to do this, then he would help him, also for free.

At this point, both Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami were hugging each other and crying joyfully, thanking Naruto and Ryuu over and over again for doing so. Since neither Ryuu or Naruto wanted money, Tsunami offered them a place to stay with them for when ever they visited.

So, after a week of scouting out the surrounding area, fallowing some of Tsunami men, and valuating their level, the two finally made their move.

As usual for the two, to mess with their target's head, Naruto went and snuck into the man's office while he was away tormenting the village once again, and placed a painting of a smirking fox's head on the man's desk. Under the painting were the words _'Death is always closer then one thinks'_.

The next day at dusk, the two left Tazuna and Tsunami house, heading back to Gato's hideout. Along the way, the two took turns picking off all of the new guards that they came across that Gato no doubt hired in an attempt to stop them. Most of the men were common bandits, unskilled samurai, and few rouge shinobi. It nothing that Naruto or Ryuu could not handle.

Finally arriving at the pathetic hideout, the two entered through the front doors, taking out anyone that they came across. On the second highest floor, the two found themselves in a bare room that held nothing except for them and two other people. Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku.

They were both disposed of in a matter of minutes; Ryuu taking on Zabuzaand Naruto fighting Haku.

At last they reached the final floor, the floor that held Gato.

Not wanting to hear any more of the man's plea's and begs Naruto ended his life in one move.

While Ryuu sealed the man's severed head in a scroll as he did with Zabuza and Haku, Naruto went through the entire office, gathering all of the money that he came a crossed for the villagers. In the end, he had two scrolls full of money; one for the village, and the other for Ryuu and himself though their scroll had only a twentieth of what was in the other scroll. As they were leaving, Naruto also took the mighty sword that Zabuza was using, sealing it in a separate scroll.

In the end, Tazuna was able to complete the bridge that he had begun before the two arrived. Tazuna even went as far as naming the bridge _'The Fox's Bridge'_ with medium sized wooden fox stature's on each side of the bridge; each fox smirking while in a sitting position.

In return of hearing all of this, Akimi and Akimitsu told Naruto and Ryuu about their family and how their control over water worked in more detail then when Shibuki told them. They even showed the two their favorite techniques.

For Akimitsu, he showed how he was able to make the water in his metal container into a bow with arrows. When Naruto looked doubtful at the power of a water bow and arrows, Akimitsu just smiled and showed Naruto and Ryuu just how powerful and deadly they could really be.

Making his bow and a single arrow, he took aim at a tree that stood at about forty feet from where they were resting. Naruto and Ryuu watched on in interest as he finally fired the arrow.

Ryuu's jaw dropped lightly while Naruto's eyes winded.

The water arrow sliced through the tree and from the looked of it, a few trees behind it. They were impressed to say the least. Ryuu even clapped to which Akimitsu bowed to, smirking.

After Akimitsu's display, Naruto and Ryuu were looking forward to seeing Akimi's favorite technique.

Unlike her brother' bow and arrow, Akimi created a long whip like looking weapon.

Not even waiting for them to ask, she walked over to a group of trees. Standing still for a few seconds with her eyes closed, she suddenly began spinning with the water whip spreading out around her body, almost making what appeared to be a half circle. Both Naruto and Ryuu watched on, almost memorized by the move, when Akimi suddenly stopped spinning, the water whip snapping into action; literally.

By the time it was over, which only took a mater of seconds, all of the trees that use to be surrounding the girl fell away from her, the cut clean.

All Ryuu and Naruto could do at the time was blink, Ryuu managing to get out a small 'wow'. Akimitsu grinned at his sister's smug look.

Naruto shook his head, clearing it of the thoughts and nudged Ryuu's side, getting his attention.

Sighing, Ryuu stood behind the twins, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Come on you two, you can stare all you want later, but let's first get inside alright?" Ryuu spoke, smiling at them kindly.

"Sorry Dragon." Akimitsu replied, using their codenames like Ryuu and Naruto asked. "It's just bigger then I though it would be." His sister nodding her head with a sheepish expression to show that she agreed with her brother.

Removing his hands from their shoulders, he motioned for them to continue walking which they complied to.

"Nothing to be sorry about. It's quite understandable. When I first saw the place I also had to stop and stare." Naruto caught the lie easily.

Another great thing that came along with learning to hide his emotions and learning to sense others, the blonde teen's able to catch when one's voice wavers, which usually means that said person was lying. There are, of course, other signs, but he found that to be the most reveling since most people don't A) notice it, or B) know how to stop themselves from doing so. Ryuu happened to know about it, but just never really cared enough to fix it since it seemed that only Naruto could tell when someone was lying on that level.

Taking the lead and seeing what looked to be a chunin guard staring at them with narrowed eyes, Ryuu led them over to him, smiling kindly at the now glaring man all the while.

Seeing the smile, Akimi slowed her steps to where she was walking besides Naruto. Her brother, curious, also slowed his steps as well so that he was on the opposite side of Naruto.

"Hey Fox," Akimi whispered, "why is Dragon smiling to the guard. I mean, aren't you two supposed to be '_deadly'_ killers and all?" She asked, making quote marks with her fingers when she said the word deadly.

Shrugging his shoulders, he glanced from Akimi to Akimitsu, then to Ryuu's back.

"He actual does it when ever we meet someone new that does not know who we are." He answered. "When I first asked him why he smiles and acts politely like he does, he said that it's to give them a false sense of security; to get a sense of their personalities and the like. Well, that and to see their reaction to when they do finally catch on to who we are." He rubbed his chin that was hidden by his mask, eyes looking up towards the cloudless sky. "Though I have to admit, it is quite fun seeing all of the different reactions that people give. My favorite by far is when the person's face goes pale and even though you can clearly see that they are petrified of us, they still try to stand up to Dragon and I. Quite funny, really." He gave a low chuckle.

The twins could only look between Naruto and Ryuu with a blank face. Finally shaking their heads, and hiding their own smiles, they went back to walking behind Ryuu, slightly in front of Naruto.

At last, they reached the guard.

"State your names and business." The chunin's voice was gruff, his tone making it seem as though he thought he was far superior then them all after he spared a glanced at their headbands.

Naruto mentally scoffed. He could now see what Shibuki was talking about when he said that everyone underestimated them all with one look at their headbands for identification. He was about to reply with a not-so-polite comment, but Ryuu cut him off before he could even get a sound out.

"Here you go, these papers should explain everything." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a thin folder that held their passes that Shibuki gave them along with their new headbands. Handing it over to the arrogant looking man, he continued to smile kindly. The twins expressions were calm, though they where also smiling lightly. It seemed that they were fallowing Ryuu's lead. Naruto's face and expression on the other hand were completely blank. Even his eyes looked lifeless. His shoulders slouched, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, and hands in his pockets, he looked like he could absolutely care less; though Ryuu knew that at a moment's notice Naruto could snap into action whither it be to defend himself or others, or attack if needed.

The four watched as the chunin opened the folder, flipping through some of the papers, nodding as he read them. Getting to some of the last few pages, he raises an eyebrow.

"Oh? Takahashi clan members? And twins at that, too." The chunin spoke, his tone slightly less ruff. He even spared a glance at the still lightly smiling twins, flashed them a smile of his own, and then went back to the folder. All four watched the man's face intently at he got to the second to last page which they all knew held both Ryuu's and Naruto's passes and information.

As the chunin read, his face grew paler and paler, his eyes widening as they darted across the page. Naruto took notice that the man's hands were beginning to tremble causing the folder and papers within it to shake.

The chunin quickly flipped the page, going to the last one that held a copy of Takigakure's Feudal Lord's written and signed document that confirmed their status. If possible, he paled even more, his jaw dropping slightly.

"N-no way…." The chunin snapped his fearful eyes to look from the still smiling Ryuu to the emotionless Naruto then back to Ryuu. "T-he…the Hokage told us all about you two becoming legal shinobi's again, warning us that you two would be coming, but we all though that he was just kidding. Just trying to get us to pay more attention. But you two are really here; The Deadly Fox and Vicious Dragon." His voice became a whisper at the last sentence, his entire body shaking now as his eyes darted from Ryuu to Naruto.

Ryuu gave a low chuckle, the smile still present.

"Ah, I was not aware that our reputation extended to even here, what with Fox and I wanting nothing to do with this country. But, I guess it can't be helped, what with our line of work…" Ryuu spoke as if he was talking about the weather.

"Dragon…" Naruto's voice was flat, dead. His eyes caught Ryuu's, then looked back to the chunin which Ryuu knew as his way as saying _'Well?'_

"Ah, sorry Fox." Ryuu turned his attention back to the still pale and slightly shaking chunin. "So may we enter? We are all rather tired…" He trailed off, giving a piercing stare to the chunin.

Said chunin jumped before backing out of their way.

"O-of co-course!" He gave them a low bow as they walked past him; Ryuu smiling once again.

"Thank you Konoha Nin." To add to the effect, he waved to the man which was soon copied by the amused twin's. Naruto just walked past the man, making a sound in the back of his throat that sounded similar to an hmm.

He was back inside the village, and Naruto didn't know wither he liked that fact, or hated it.

Looking the place over, he gave a mental shrug.

'_I'll just have to see.'_


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** So I really just wanted to apologize for taking so long to get this up.Rubs neck with a sheepish expression So much has been going on that I barely find time to stop and take a deep breath before continuing. Summer or not, it seems that since I don't have school at the moment, my life got even busier. Though I do love writing, there are some things more important then Fan fiction. On a happier note, I've also one back and looked over my previous chapters and fixed the grammar mistakes that I haven't caught before hand.

Oh, and if any one has any suggestions for my story, like something that you would like to see happen, let me know and I'll try to get it in. I won't promise anything, but it would be nice hearing what you all would like to see happen.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

* * *

As the odd group of four walked down the streets of Konoha, they came across few people. The twins, thinking it weird, asked Ryuu why they were not being surrounded by people as one would usually think when visiting such a large village. Ryuu's response was that he was purposely having them take the 'back roads', if you would, to avoid all of the main shopping streets and other area's that were no doubt packed with villagers given it being the middle of the day.

It was something that Naruto was internally grateful for; not having to be surrounded by villagers that might for some strange reason recognize him, if only to make his life more difficult, even though he no longer looked like he once did. Still, there was always that extremely slim possibility; a possibility that he rather not happen. The emotionless looking teen silently pondered if Ryuu was thinking along the same lines as him, or if he just wished to avoid walking with great masses of people. Sadly, knowing Ryuu, it was most likely the latter.

The few villagers, some shinobi and some not, that they did come across seemed to look at one of them, or more specifically the head bands that they wore, then turn their noses in the air and continued to walk on without giving any of them a second glace, treating them much like the chunin guard did before he found out their names. There were even some that looked at Naruto's mask and sneer slightly, then look at the head band that he wore, and the sneer would either deepen, or change into a smirk before they continued on.

The pure arrogance and sense of superiority that the villagers here seemed to have when it regarded them irked the four to no end; in particular Akimi and Akimitsu since the two really are from the Waterfall Village, unlike Naruto and Ryuu who were just pretending to be for the sake of the mission.

Already Ryuu had to hold back Akimi once for fear of her attacking a small group of academy looking students that happened to glance at her and snicker to each other at something that one of them said to the others. What happened next was something that both greatly amused and irritated Naruto though he hid both emotions.

Irritation because even academy students, all by the looks of it no older then eleven, and most certainly none of which could possibly even think of matching any of the four's skill, were _mocking_ them, thinking them weak, simply because of the headbands that they are wearing.

His amusement, on the other hand, came from watching an angry Akimi unsheathe her sword, and yelling a loud _'That's it!'_ before charging the small group of preteens.

Sadly, though, Ryuu managed to knock the blade from her hand, (which handle's was quickly grabbed from mid air by her bother) and pinned her to the ground with her arms secured behind her back.

To say that the academy students were scared would be a great understatement. The moment that they saw her draw the deadly weapon, they grouped even closer together, eyes wide with horror.

Ryuu, annoyed with the quivering group of students before him, wished for nothing more then to let the angry girl pinned beneath him go and have her wicked way with the snobbish children. He only resisted his rather dark urge because doing so would not only mean failing the mission before it even started, but also giving means to start a war between the Leaf and the Waterfall. Something that he was pretty sure Shibuki would _not_ like even if it wouldn't technically be _their_ fault in a manner of speaking.

And so, with a heavy sigh, he pushed back his annoyance and began the grueling task of calming down the livid kunichi. Never a fun thing to do.

After a few threats, bucking, kicks, and strings of curses that would have even the strongest and cruelest of sailors go red in the face with embarrassment, Akimi finally gave up fighting Ryuu and became limp, breathing rather hard.

Sighing a breath of relief, Ryuu turned his attention to the spot where the group of students last stood, not expecting them to still be there. So it was with an amused look that he apologized to them for Akimi's behavior.

The small group of shaken students nodded slowly, eyeing the now deathly calm kunichi, as if expecting her to suddenly start back up again. Finally content with the knowledge that she was in fact no longer going to attack them any longer, they slowly ebbed away a few feet before flat out running, pushing each other trying to get ahead of the others.

All the while this was going on; Akimitsu was suppressing his urge to laugh. As soon as they were all out of sight, he finally broke down, having to cling onto Naruto's arm to keep from falling. Naruto glanced at him out the corner of his eyes, mentally wishing that he was not known to be so emotionless so that he could to do the same.

After that incident, nothing of real significance happened to the four. They still got curious glances that quickly turned into arrogant one's by a few other villagers, but besides that, nothing.

Ryuu continued to lead them, something that they have all grown accustomed to over the last few days traveling together. Their formation went Ryuu in the lead, fallowed by the twins walking side by side a few steps behind him, then Naruto walking behind them all by a few paces.

As Ryuu continued his search for the least crowded way to the hotel that all foreign chunin exam takers were told to stay in, Naruto used the time to look over his not-so-new surroundings. As his eyes drifted lazily from one place to another, quick flashes of his past entered his mind's eye. Though the memories were not much, being too young to properly remember everything of any real significance, he did remember some of his more unpleasant memories that he would have rather forgotten if given the chance.

As they passed an ally, his eyes drifted down it, taking in its form. The ally itself didn't go that far back, about twenty feet, being blocked off by another building. The space from one wall to the other was roughly five feet in width. Though cleaner then what it use to be, the blonde teen could still see a younger him curled up at the back of the ally, staring out at the passing people, none of which sparing a glance at the young child.

Mentally sneering at the memory, he forced his attention to the backs of the Takahashi twins, wishing the thoughts of his past to leave him.

His wish was answered, though he had no doubt that they would be back later.

* * *

Finally, the four reached the hotel. Naruto had to silently admit, the hotel was rather nice looking. The building itself gave off a feel of comfort if at all possible. The inside lobby only added to the feeling. The room was done in hues of earthy green and brown, creating a relaxed atmosphere.

Naruto stood back, letting Ryuu and the twins check them all in. There were few other people milling about in the lobby, though they all had different head bands, none of which belonging to the leaf. Doing a quick scan, he counted a total of three Nins from the Hidden Village of Grass and four Nins from the Hidden Village of Rain. Not really seeing anyone that he knew from past travels or anything that really caught his attention, he turned his attention back to his team who were at the moment talking to an older man behind the front desk.

From the look on the man's face, what ever they were talking about was beginning to annoy him. After a few moments though, Ryuu rested his hand on Akimi's head. The man's expression turned smug as he reached under the counter, producing a key. Handing it over to Ryuu, he shooed them away.

Naruto mentally raised an eyebrow at the man. Either Ryuu didn't tell the man his name, or the man didn't know their reputation.

Mulling it over, he went for the former instead of the latter.

As the three made their way back over to the silent blond teen, he took in their emotions, almost by habit.

Akimi was clearly annoyed, if the crossed arms and hard glared that was aimed at the floor was anything to go by.

Akimitsu looked bored, obviously not affected by what ever just happened.

Unlike the grouchy kunichi and bored teen, Ryuu looked amused. His eyes were sparkling and he was grinning slightly.

Finally reaching him, Naruto was the first to speak.

"Do I even want to know?"

Ryuu chuckled, Akimitsu rolled his eyes, and Akimi huffed in annoyance, her glare becoming even more poisonous. Poor floor.

"Since all of the foreign chunin exam takers have to stay here," Akimi drawled out, "we all have to share a room that only has two beds."

Here Ryuu piped in. "I've already told her that you and I would take the floor, Fox, but--"

"I'm still not happy about it." Akimi cut him off. "I mean, we're all forced to stay here the entire time of the exams, the least the damn Hokage can do is make it to where the rooms have at least four beds. I mean, really. It's called common courtesy, people." She huff once again.

Akimitsu laughed softly at his sister's antics, quickly with Ryuu's own quiet laughter. Naruto simply lowered his head lightly, showing that he agreed with the kunichi whole heartedly.

Shaking his head, Ryuu steered the three teens towards the stairs.

"Come on, there's nothing that we can do about it."

Giving one last huff, Akimi was the first to start moving, closely followed by her brother, then Naruto and Ryuu.

Reaching the third floor then finally finding the room number that was on the key, they all piled in.

The room, like the lobby, was done in hues of green and brown which Naruto found add, what with them being in the fire country and all. He would have expected reds and yellows, maybe even orange.

On the wall opposite of the door was a medium sized window that had a table and two wooden chairs. From where he stood, he could make out the rock wall that held all of the village's past Hokage's. To the right was a door, which he guessed led to the bathroom. Finally, on the wall to the left, two beds headboards were pushed up against. In between the two twin sized beds was a simple nightstand that held a lamp.

The twins quickly took off their back backs and kanata's, setting them against the wall that held the exit, before going over and claiming a bed, falling down onto them. It seemed that as soon as their heads hit the pillows, they were asleep.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So much for hating the room arrangements." His voice held some amusement now that they were alone.

Ryuu was about to comment, but was beaten by a sharp knock at the door. Sharing a quick look, Naruto nodded and went to answer the hotel door as Ryuu stayed in the background out of sight.

Opening the door, Naruto was greeted with the sight of three men and one women, all in cloaks that covered their entire body, hoods covering their heads. Resting on their faces were animal looking masks. A dog, a boar, a rooster, and a cat. He was standing before four of Konoha's famous Black Ops, the ANBU.

Naruto tilted his head slightly. "May I help you?" The teen's voice was back to his usual emptiness, his eyes completely and utterly blank.

The one in front of the other three seemed to hesitate before coughing slightly.

"Ah, yes. Would you happen to be Fox?" Mirroring Naruto, the Dog masked man tilted his own head lightly.

"That I am."

The dog masked man cleared his throat. "And would Dragon happen to be with you?"

Even though Naruto knew that Ryuu was back behind him towards the window, he made a show of turning his head, made eye contact with Ryuu, and then turned his attention back to the four ANBU in front of him.

"That he is."

"I see."

An awkward silence filled the air; well, awkward for the four ANBU, amusing for Naruto and Ryuu though neither showed it, even if Ryuu was hidden from view.

Ryuu, taking pity on them, finally came into view. Smiling, he came up behind Naruto, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, ANBU-san's. How may we help you?"

Clearly taken aback by Ryuu's smile and politeness, the four ANBU shuffled amongst themselves, almost as if they were trying to see who would speak next. Finally, the one wearing the rooster mask spoke.

"Well, we're here to take you to the Hokage. He wishes to see you two."

Ryuu's smile didn't falter. "Ah, of course. I take it that he is seeing the jounin and a genin from every foreign chunin exam teams then?" His once calm and friendly look turned cold and piercing, as if daring them to lie to him.

"Well, no, bu--oomph" The rooster was cut off by having the boar digging his elbow into the other man's side.

The dog masked man brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously.

Naruto mentally rolled his eyes at the display.

'_These are suppose to be the best of the best? Wow…'_

Behind him, Ryuu sighed. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. What do you think Fox?"

Naruto simply tilted his head to the side, making a sound in the back of his throat that sounded similar to a hmm.

Ryuu nodded. "My thoughts exactly." He turned his attention back to the four slightly confused ANBU. "Well then, do we have enough time to where I can leave a note for the other two member of my team in case they wake?" He nodded his head over to the still sleeping bodies of Akimitsu and Akimi.

"Go right ahead." The cat masked women spoke for the first time.

Ryuu smiled his thanks before turning and heading off to prepare the note.

In the mean time Naruto continued to stare them down. "Move."

The four all visibly faltered.

"Ex-excuse me?" The dog asked.

"I said, 'move'. How do you expect us to leave when you four block our exit?" He lightly tilted his head again, his voice still bleak sounding.

"A-ah, right. Of course." He nodded his head, motioning for the three behind him to move back.

Satisfied and slightly amused, Naruto spare a glance at Ryuu only to see the man set a piece of paper against the lamp that rested on top of the nightstand in between the two beds. Nodding mentally, the blond stepped out of the room to join the ANBU, waiting for Ryuu to join them as well.

Finally, Ryuu also stepped out, shutting the door behind him. Standing beside Naruto, he motioned with his arm toward the stairs, smiling all the while.

"Please, lead the way."

Giving a sharp nod, the dog masked man led them, the boar, cat, and rooster trailing behind them.

Standing in front of the Hokage with Ryuu beside him, Naruto resisted the urge to sigh. Instead, he continued to stare at the old man before him with his haunting blue eyes.

The old man, to his credit, didn't shift in his seat or avoid eye contact like most ended up doing. Ryuu always said that it was because it was unsettling to stare into his dead looking eyes after so long. But, Naruto expected no less. The Hokage was, after all, rumored to be one of the strongest amongst of the five Kages.

After a few tense moments, neither Ryuu or Naruto wanting to be the first to speak, the Hokage finally spoke.

"So," he stopped to fold his hands and rest his chin on top of them before continuing, "You two are the famous Fox and Dragon that I've so much about."

Ryuu laughed lightly, smiling at the elderly man. "I wouldn't say 'famous', but yes. I'm Dragon and this is Fox." He nodded his head towards Naruto.

The Hokage's stare hardened as he made a noise in the back of his throat much like how Naruto did.

"And you two have really joined the Hidden Waterfall Village."

Naruto inclined his head slightly while Ryuu answered. "That we have."

The Hokage leaned back in his chair, never taking his eyes off the two.

"Why?" His tone was curious and hard at the same time. "The reason was never stated clearly."

Once again, Ryuu answered from the two of them. "I'm sorry Hokage-Sama, but that information is rather personally and confidential. You understand, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course." Despite the man's words, his eyes narrowed. "Well then, perhaps you can answer this. A short time ago, my grandson and his friends come to me in clear distress, saying that a group of Waterfall nin's tried to attack them as they were walking down the street. You wouldn't happen to be those nin's would you?"

"Ah, yes. That was in fact us. Well, technically it was our female teammate Akimi Takahashi that rushed them. Hopefully you'll forgive her. She's been rather stressed lately, you see, worrying over the exams and all. Though I promise that nothing will happen to any of your shinobi while I or Fox here is near." Ryuu smiled, lying smoothly to the question that was more of a demand than anything else. At times like these, Naruto was thankful that Ryuu could think quickly on his feet.

The elderly man once again made that noise in the back of his throat, looking Ryuu over as if trying to sense if he were lying to him or not. Once again Naruto was thankful that when needed, Ryuu could easily pull off a lie that was even hard for him to catch.

After a few more tense moments, the Hokage finally seemed satisfied and nodded, though more to himself then to Naruto and Ryuu.

"Very well. Thank you for coming to see me and I hope that you two and the other members of your team enjoy your stay here."

Ryuu's smile brightened. "Thank you, Hokage-Sama. I'm sure we all will."

The Hokage nodded absentmindedly, waving them off.

Both Naruto and Ryuu bowed slight before finally turning and exiting the now opened door.

Once the door was closed, an ANBU appeared before the Hokage.

"What are your orders, Hokage-Sama?"

Said man stared intently at the younger man across from him.

"For the moment, watch them. Do not, and I stress these words, let any of the four see you. Simply make sure that they don't act out in any way while not in one of the three exams. Understood?"

The Black Op bowed. "Yes, Hokage-Sama." And with that, the masked man disappeared just an quietly as he appeared.

The elderly man leaned back in his chair when he was alone.

"You two better watch yourselves, Fox and Dragon." He murmured quietly to the empty room.

* * *

Arriving back at their hotel room, they entered to find both Akimi and Akimitsu exactly where they left them.

Chuckling light, Ryuu walked over to the window and sat on one of the two chairs, Naruto sitting across from him on the other chair.

"That went rather nicely if I say so myself." Ryuu hummed.

"Quite, if that underlying threat is anything to go by."

Ryuu leaned back in the chain, lazily looking up at the ceiling.

"True, but I guess it couldn't be helped. We are, after _deadly_ killers." Here Ryuu rolled his eyes. "Hypocrites. The lot of them." Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the silent teen before him. "And from the looks of it; the Hokage didn't recognize you either. That's always a plus…" he trailed off, apparently lost in his own thoughts.

Naruto simply inclined his head, showing that he agreed even though Ryuu was no longer watching him.

"In all honesty, I would have been surprised if he did recognize me. After all, I was five when I left with you, and the last time that the old man saw me that I can remember was a little before my fifth birthday. I wouldn't be surprised if he even forgot that I use to live here in the first place. After all, what's the likely hood of remembering an orphan?" Naruto spoke, his tone turning spiteful towards the end.

Ryuu brought his attention back once again to the blond teen before him, taking in his calm face and fierce blue eyes. Ryuu's own face softened.

"You wanted him to remember. You wanted him to recognize you." Though Ryuu spoke softly, Naruto still heard him if the stiffening of his muscles were anything to go by.

Turning his face towards the window, Naruto looked over towards the four faces that were carved onto the mountains side.

"Part of me wants nothing to do with either this village or most importantly the Hokage, but the other part of me almost yearns to be…"

Ryuu sighed before smiling kindly.

"Fox," he waited until he held the boys attention, "its okay you know to feel that way. This village is, after all, where you were born and spent the first five years of your life. I don't think any less of you for that desire. After all, everyone wants to be remembered."

Naruto stayed silent for a few moments, going over what Ryuu said. Slowly, he smiled.

"Thanks, Dragon. You really do make a great father."

After that was said, Naruto went back to looking out the window, still smiling slightly.

Ryuu once again leaned back in his chair, grinning widely at Naruto's statement. Both waited for the twins to wake, but in the mean time, stayed quiet, enjoying the comfortable silence between them.

Outside of the hotel, hidden amongst the tree, stood the hidden ANBU. His dog masked face looking towards Naruto's and Ryuu's window. It was at times like these that the man was grateful for being able to read lips. Even though he was only able to catch half of the conversation between the two, it was still information.

It was with that thought in mind that the hidden man turned to leave, to report the interesting information back to the Hokage. After all, if what that Dragon man was saying was, in fact, true then the other, this Fox, was born and used to live in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, even if it was only for five years. Yes, he was very grateful for being able to read lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Wow, so I feel really embarrassed ///. **First**, I have to say Thank You to Dragon-tyjet. This wonderful person pointed out to me that I posted my chapter six as chapter five. I also want to thank everyone that has review so far, it makes me rather giddy receiving them then reading them. **Second**, it has come to my attention that I'm using 'funny words'. If this is so, please tell me where these words are so I can go back and fix/replace them ^-^ I've been looking for a Beta so things like these won't happen, but atlas, it's been a fruitless search so far. So until I do in fact find one, please bear with me.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

* * *

It was a few hours later until Akimi and Akimitsu finally woke again. By that time, the sun was already setting, shops were closing, and children were returning home to join their family for dinner.

Of the two, Akimi was the first to wake, beating her twin brother by mere seconds. Yawning and stretching, Akimi sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Her brother simply stretched, grumbled, and rolled back on to his side to where he was facing the wall, fully determined on going back to sleep.

"Well hello to you too." Ryuu spoke, chuckling at Akimitsu's behavior.

All he got in return was some incoherent mumbles, making him laugh and Naruto smile a ghost of a smile. Standing up from his chair across from Naruto, Ryuu went and stood in between the two beds.

"Come on you two, you've slept enough. It's time to get up now." Though he spoke to both of them, he reached over and shook Akimitsu's shoulder since he was the one most likely to end up asleep again if given the chance unlike his sister who just looked slightly dazed.

Akimitsu, in a feeble attempt to be left alone to resume sleeping, raised a hand and batted at Ryuu's that was still shaking his shoulder.

"Nooooo." He moaned out, "Go 'way. Sleep good"

Naruto rolled his eyes, though there was still a small smile on his face showing his amusement at the situation. Ryuu, on the other hand, smirked, a smirk that promised something bad for the sleepy teen.

"Have it your way, Akimitsu." was all Ryuu said in a sing-song voice before giving said teen a sharp and sudden push, knocking him off the small twin sized bed onto the floor.

With a loud yelp of surprise, Akimitsu tumbled out of bed; bring the sheets and pillow with him. The only sign that he was 'okay' was the loud moan of pain that he gave, causing Naruto's smile to widen in even more amusement, Ryuu lean over the now bare bed, smiling down at the crumpled teen, and Akimi to start laughing at her brother, all sense of sleep gone.

Sitting up and rubbing his head, Akimitsu glared at Ryuu, who just smiled back innocently.

"What? I thought that you might like it better on the floor." Ryuu tilted his head, grinning impishly.

"Bastard…" Standing up fully, Akimitsu dusted off invisible dirt before heading off to the door that led to the bathroom mumbling colorful words under his breath the entire time.

Naruto watched as he stalked off, an eyebrow raised. When the bathroom door opened then slammed closed, he looked back over to the highly amused Ryuu and giggling Akimi with a semi-serious looking face.

"Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that he's a morning person." Naruto hummed to himself, rubbing his masked chin, pretending to think it over.

This caused Akimi to start laughing all over again and for Ryuu to chuckle.

"No, I don't think so either." Ryuu responded, shaking his head. "After Akimitsu gets out, you can go in Akimi and then we all need to go over what we're going to do with the time we have from now until the first part of the exam. We have eleven days, so we have to use them the best we can to both get use to our new surroundings, and get in some more team practice for you three." He suddenly grew serious, crossing his arms over his chest. "You all have to remember, we have only been a team for a few days now, while all of the other teams have been together for at least a few months.

"You three are going to have to learn to work together; if you are to have any chance of winning and coming out as chunin's, you'll have to be able to help each other all you can, wither we're all a real team or not." He looked pointedly at Naruto towards the end of his little speech.

Both teens nodded with a determined look in both of their eyes that matched that of Ryuu, Akimi then looking to be lost in thought. Just then, the bathroom door opened, showing Akimitsu in the doorway, his toothbrush loosely grasped in his hand.

"Well then," the teen spoke with a smirk in place, "what are we all waiting for?" He, too, had a determined look, all thoughts of sleeping forgotten for the time being. Akimitsu was met with a mixture of smirks and wide grins.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later found the three teens and one adult standing in front of a training ground much like the one that Naruto stumbled across all those years ago. The only real difference from then and now was the missing lightning, thunder, and rain. With the sun now fully down and the stars just starting to come out, Ryuu found the place quite perfect for what he had in mind.

Walking until he was in the middle of the clearing, Ryuu turned to face his team of 'genin'.

"Okay. So, if you three are going to be fighting and working together, you all will need to be able to tell where the other two are so that you can either help them if need be, or avoid hitting them while in the middle of a battle. The last thing that you need is too accidently injure your own teammate while up against enemy shinobi. You might as well just surrender to the enemy if that happens. Following along so far?" He waited until all three nodded before continuing. Ryuu grinned a devious grin. "So, in order to get use to locating each other, which you could also use to locate, hidden ninja you three are going to play a little game that will help you with both."

Akimitsu and Akimi visibly faltered at the mention of playing a game while Naruto raised an eyebrow. Naruto held no doubt that whatever Ryuu was going to have them all do would in fact help them in one way or another, but knowing Ryuu, and going over all of his past trainings whenever Ryuu decided to phrase any of his past training like that…

'_Well,'_ Naruto silently though, _'this should be interesting at least'_

"What, may I ask, game are we to play?" Naruto questioned out loud.

Ryuu's grin widened, causing the twins to squirm slightly.

"Isn't it obvious? You three are going to play the wonderful game of…" Ryuu trailed off, trying to add suspense to the situation. Sadly, it worked.

Akimi and Akimitsu leaned in while Naruto just raised an eyebrow again, waiting.

"Hide and Seek!" Ryuu finally exclaimed, beaming at them as he crossed his arms over his chest.

All three teenagers started at Ryuu blankly, though the blank look was nothing new for Naruto. After a few moments of Ryuu smiling and the three teen's just staring at said man as if he were crazy, Akimitsu finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"Let me get this straight." He closed his eyes, rubbed his forehead.

"You want us," Akimi took over, pointing between Naruto, her brother, and herself to emphases what she was saying, "to play _Hide _and_ Seek_ as a form of training?!"

Naruto just shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest much like how Ryuu had his own arms crossed. "Why am I _not_ surprised…" he trailed off, looking up to star filled night as if the answer would suddenly appear before him.

Ryuu went from smiling to pouting, his arms still crossed. "Ah, come on you three. It would be perfect as practice. What's a better way of finding each other than playing Hide and Seek in the dark? This way, you'll really need to pay attention to your surrounds, either trying to hide from the seeker, who in a real battle would be classified as an enemy shinobi, or trying to locate those hidden while said hidden have to find each other as well as stay hidden from the seeker. Then there's the fact that the one who plays as the seeker also gets extra practice in as trying to locate those you're chasing, which you all could use if chasing after an enemy that is trying to lose you.

"Add that with the cover of night, which can either help you or give you away if not careful just makes it all the better for this exercise. It all depends on how well you three use and pay attention to your surroundings that will determine wither the night will either cause your downfall or victory over the other two. That and you all get to have some fun." He finished with a cheeky grin.

The twins sighed at the same time, nodding their heads.

"Fine, we'll play." They both spoke in worn out voices, still finding Ryuu slightly insane even though his explanation made sense to them both.

Ryuu clapped his hands together, smiling again at the twins before turning his attention to Naruto. The twins followed his lead. Naruto stared back.

After a few silent seconds, Naruto finally sighed.

"Fine, I'll also play your silly game, Dragon. But don't think that I'll like it."

When Naruto got done speaking, Ryuu looked as if Christmas came early. He was use to the usual emotionless teen putting up a fight whenever he suggested playing a game that also counted as some type of training. Never had he given in as quickly as he just did. In fact, Ryuu was use to having to provide numerous reasons as to why such childish games like Tag, Marco Polo, I Spy, and now Hide and Seek could be seen as training for creative shinobi that most never even think about doing. In fact, it was only because he was playing the game Hide and Seek when he was a child still in school that he thought of using his charka to help hide his foot prints from showing up on top of the sand which would always end up giving his hiding place away.

"Good, good. Now all that's left is to set up the boundaries, make some rules that fit to what we're aiming for, and decide who 'it' is first."

It was with two small groans and a light sigh that the three teens set to work to begin their new form of training.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rising as the tired group of teens and sole adult made their way back into their hotel room.

They had been playing their new and improved game of Hide and Seek the entire night with only a few breaks here and there, but even those were short. A few minutes if Ryuu was feeling nice. Never let it be said that Ryuu can't turn a harmless children like Hide and Seek and turn it into a full body workout.

To make matters even worse for the already tired group of teens, around one in the morning, they attracted the attention of two ANBU who were out on patrol. After they got done talking to Ryuu who was explaining what they were doing out so late, it was to the three teenagers horror that the two Black Ops offered to join in, saying that it would be 'delightfully fun' for them and 'more of a challenge' for the Naruto, Akimitsu, and Akimi.

Naruto just thought that they wanted to get out of patrol duty.

And if Akimitsu's dark mutterings and Akimi's evil glare that was directed at the ground, they shared Naruto's thought.

So, it was with suddenly heavy feet and hung heads that the three teenagers agreed, allowing the two highly amused ANBU Black Ops to both join their 'game' and be the new seekers.

When the two ANBU members finally left them at day break, Naruto took back his earlier thought of the lot of them being pathetic. How very, very wrong he was. The four that Ryuu and he met earlier must have been new to the position, because the two that joined in on their training were anything _but_ weak.

As the twins plopped down of their separate beds and Ryuu headed back over to his spot by the window, Naruto had to admit silently to himself, as he sat opposite of Ryuu, that at the end of the day, (or at the start of a new one he should say) Ryuu's idea of training was once again both a great learning experience and, for the most part, as in when he and the Takahashi twin's got use to the presence of the two fierce ANBU members, fun.

Though fun or not, Naruto made no future plans of going and seeking the two ANBU's out just to playing another round with them, or any other ANBU's for that matter, if he could help it. He rather not give them another chance to fiercely attack either him or the Takahashi twins without worrying about the chance of causing a war between The Hidden Waterfall Village and theirs.

After all, as Ryuu pointed out when he gave the okay for the ANBU members to use some of their less dangerous moves and techniques, it was all in the name of learning how to better their skills as ninja's.

Ryuu, seeing as they were all too tired to really move, got up and headed for the bathroom, fully intent on taking advantage of the situation by taking a nice hot shower even though he did almost nothing besides watch them train and give the rare comments here and there.

He wasn't even able to take two steps before Naruto's voice stopped him.

"And what do you think you're doing, Dragon?"

Ryuu stopped, silently cursed, and turned to face a glaring Naruto. Rubbing the back of his head, he gave a nervous laugh.

"Ah, I was planning on taking a shower, what with not having one for two days and all." By then, Akimi and Akimitsu were also glaring at their temporary jounin leader.

"I don't think so, Dragon! We just got done working our asses off by dodging attacks from some of Konoha's top shinobi, then trying to do the impossible and find the hidden ANBU. Not to mention doing it all in the dead of night! If anyone one is going to be taking a shower, it's one of us, not you!" Akimi hotly stated, her voice raising with each sentence. Ryuu shrunk back.

Even if he _was_ a supposed deadly shinobi, feared far and wide for his skills, facing a tired, pissed off kunichi was never good for any mans health, and Ryuu knew that pretty well.

So, it was with a hung head that Ryuu went back over to his seat across from a by then amused Naruto, allowing Akimi to get up, grab her pajamas and things that she would need for a shower from her bag, and stomp into the bathroom.

When she was done, Naruto allowed Akimitsu to go next, making Ryuu grumble under his breath. Once he, too, was done and out of the bathroom, Naruto finally got up. Before heading into the bathroom with his own change of sweats and lose shirt, he patted Ryuu on his shoulder, his eyes shining with amusement.

"How 'bout you set up our beds, hmm? It will give you something to do."

Naruto took a quick step back, avoiding Ryuu's swat that was aimed at his head.

"Yeah yeah." He grumbled, glaring lightly at his adopted son. "Get moving."

Naruto snickered as he walked into the bathroom.

When Naruto was done showering, he was met with two home made beds on the floor composed of multiple blankets and a pillow each, sleeping twins on their own beds, and a sulking Ryuu who was still sitting by the window.

Drying his hair with a towel, Naruto gave Ryuu a ghost of a smile.

"It's all yours Dragon." Naruto spoke in a sing-song voice as he dropped his towel in the hamper that was located in the bathroom.

"Gee, thanks." Ryuu's own tone was slightly sarcastic, his eyes rolling as he stood. "Choose which ever bed you want." He motioned over to where the two homemade beds laid; one next to the wall, the other next to it, though there was about two feet between them. He made his way into the bathroom, mumbling under his breath about 'rude brats that don't respect their elders'.

Naruto simply nodded, walking over to the one closest to the wall. Laying down, he closed his eyes, giving a soft "Night." before falling asleep, his lack of sleep catching up to him finally.

It was only a few minutes later that Ryuu stepped out of the bathroom, ruffling his damp hair. Laying down on his own bed, he, too, fell asleep rather quickly.

Outside, back in the same tree that the last sole AMBU used to sit on, the two ANBU members that were with them earlier glanced at each other. Nodding, the Snake masked one of the two left silently, leaving the Monkey to continue his silent watch.

When the Snake reappeared, she stood before the Hokage's office doors. No doubt he was awake and already working, so she had no reason to worry of waking the elder man as she knocked on the door sharply.

A muffled "Come in" was the reply, so the Snake masked women opened the door. Walking in to stand before the serious man, she bowed and waited for his to speak before she rose again.

"What do you have to report, Anko?"

When the women rose, she remover her mask and lowered her hood, reveling her face's features and showed off her unique purple hair color. Her lips showed a sadistic grin.

"Monkey and I began our shadowing of the team from the Hidden Waterfall Village at Six p.m. They stayed inside of the hotel until dusk. From the hotel, the man, 'Dragon', led them to training ground Five. Monkey and I watched them play the game Hide and Seek, which they were using as a form of training."

Here, the Hokage interrupted her. Raising an eyebrow in amusement, he asked, "Hide and Seek?"

Anko snickered lightly before she gave him the same explanation that she heard Ryuu give Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu. Once done, the Hokage leaned back in his chair, blinking.

"Now _that's_ different." Here, he began speaking to himself. "I just may have to tell our own jounin's that have genin teams about it so they can try it themselves." Shaking his head, he motioned for the women across from his to continue.

Nodding, she did just that.

"At a little after one in the morning, it became clear that the jounin of the team finally took notice of us. From there, Monkey and I decided to try a different approach. After talking to the man 'Dragon', Monkey offered that we join in. He purposely made it seem like we were trying to get out our supposed patrol, hoping to cover up for why we were watching them. From the looks of it, they all bought it, though I not so sure about that kid Fox." She frowned as she spoke the teens 'name'. "About the entire time we were watching them, he showed almost no emotions. His control over his emotions put even some of ours to shame." Her frown turned into a sneer of annoyance. She didn't like the thought that some teen, someone younger than her could hide his emotions so well that even she could not even get a small sense as to what he was thinking or feeling. It made her feel on edge, slightly uneasy if nothing else. She hated the feeling.

"During that time, we were able to gather some of the genin's abilities. I doubt very much that what they showed us is the extent of any of their powers, but it's still quite a bit." She pulled out a scroll, sliding it across the desk towards the ageing Hokage. "'Dragon' finally called the training off as the sun began raising. At that point, we took our leave, though stayed in the shadows, watching them to make sure that they did indeed go back to the hotel. As soon as they all fell asleep, I came straight here, leaving Monkey to watch over the four as they slept."

Nodding, the Hokage picked up the scroll, opening and reading it to himself silently. Once finished, he rolled it back up and placed it back down on his desk, frowning.

"Thank you, Anko. Both you and Monkey are relived from your post. I will send in replacements to continue watching them." He spoke, waving her off absent mindedly, his mind still going over what he read from the scroll he was just given.

The women nodded, preparing the jutsu that would take her back to her partner. She left as silently as she came; leaving no sign that she was there to begin with except for the Hokage's secretary seeing her arrive and the Hokage himself.

Once she was gone, the elder Hokage leaned back in his chair, taking out his pipe and lighting it with a match. Taking a deep breath of the poisonous smoke, he then let it out slowly. Staring up at the ceiling, sighed, idle ling biting down on the pipe's mouth piece.

"What an interesting exam this has been so far, and it hasn't even officially started yet." He glanced back down, looking at the scroll that held the information gathered regarding the three genin's from the Hidden Waterfall Village.

He took another deep breath from his pipe, once again letting it out slowly.

"Just who are you really, Fox, Dragon…"


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: So this chapter is for my brand new Beta, _NinetailsGirl09_ ^-^ Also, I'm going to answer a review that I received from _Nobother_. Normally, I would have just PMed the person back, but they have it blocked to where I couldn't, and since it was a review that asked rather interesting questions that I feel should be answered, I decided to answer them here.

The Review Word for Word:

"this chapter is good and all**  
**but i have to question if two "S" class ninja would really be that oblivious to some ANBU**  
**i know that ANBU are elites but even so they can't be that good**  
**i mean Kakashi is an "A" borderline "S" ninja every other ANBU should be worse the him**  
**so how come it took them so long to find the ANBU and how do they not know of their observers when in the hotel room**  
**And how did they not just simply shut the curtains wen talking last chapter"

My Reply:

May I say right off the bat; thank you for your review. I always enjoy receiving them, and yours is no different.

Now then, onto the questions you asked. As for the whole thing about Ryuu and Naruto being oblivious to the two hidden ANBU for so long, here's how I see things.

While it is true that Ryuu is labeled as 'S' Class in the Bingo Book, you have to remember that the Kazekage put Ryuu down as such before his supposed 'death' because he refused to do as he said, making him rather angry, and what's better a revenge than labeling a rouge shinobi as 'S' Class which would in turn make your life more difficult because more people will be after you for a reward, more experienced shinobi who usually go after real 'S' Classed shinobi. And as for the famous Dragon and Fox, they are only thought to be 'S' Classed because of the fact that they are willing to be hired by any and all, though they do turn down some job offers they feel goes against their morals (though few, they both do in fact have morals), and the jobs that they do take, are always done perfectly. Truly, I consider Ryuu much like Kakashi, as an 'A' Class ninja, border lining 'S'. As for Naruto, I would place him as a solid 'A' Class and that's only when he has Ryuu there with him. Without Ryuu, I picture my version of Naruto at a very high 'B'. While he is stronger them most his age, it does not mean that I'm going to have him as some untouchable god-like person. He is, after all, only fifteen years old, even if he hasbeen training for ten sum years on how to be a ninja.

As for the ANBU, they _are_ called the best of the best for a reason. So yeah, they can '_be that good_'. And where does it _ever_ say that the ANBU all have to be worse than Kakashi? I mean, yeah, Kakashi has great power and amazing talent, but that does not mean that he's better than all of the ANBU, I don't care if he does have the sharingan or was a past ANBU captain for some time. It's as the saying goes, "_While you may think you the best, there is always someone better out there._" That goes for Kakashi just as much as everyone else. Please take that into consideration, for it also explains as to why the ANBU members are able to continue to watch the small group of four without being noticed.

And as to why they didn't close the curtains when they talked? While Ryuu and Naruto were and still are expecting to have people, like the ANBU, keep a close eye on them, like Shibuki warned them when going over the mission with them before hand, neither Naruto nor Ryuu expect them to be so paranoid to go as far to keep watch over them while they are in the hotel, so they never bothered with closing the curtains. Besides, this way it helps along with the plot that I have (semi) planned out. (Let's face it readers and fellow writers, if every last detail is planned out, the story is nowhere near as fun to write)

There, I believe that that explains everything that you wished to know. Hoped it helped ^^ Don't be afraid to ask questions like these, people. Believe it or not, I don't bite. I'll always explain when asked if it does not give away too much. And if that's the case, I'll try to explain as much as I can.

* * *

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.

* * *

For the next nine days, the four from the Hidden Waterfall Village spent most of their time training, only breaking too sleep, eat, and tend to other bodily needs when needed.

Naruto, Akimitsu, and Akimi spent endless hours during those nine days working to their full extent; Naruto also using the time to get use to the twin's presence while fighting, and they getting use to his in return.

All three of the teens decided to train in some of the aspects that were either ignored before, or relearn some techniques that they felt they needed to brush up on once again, whether it be jutsu's, different forms of taijutsu, or creating and dispelling genjutsu (which usually ending only being Naruto in the genjutsu department, what with the twin's rather 'special' situation).

The three also fought against Ryuu; either one at a time, two of them teaming up together, in which case they would switch off partners in a tag team like manner, the only difference being that instead of having one fight and one waiting to jump in when needed, two of them would be fighting against Ryuu with the third teen waiting off to the side. Then there were times when it was all three teens going at it at once against the jounin.

While Ryuu usually won when he had to go against one the three, and sometimes when they used the tag team method, he found that he really had to work at it if he wanted to win when the three worked together. The nice part was that Ryuu rarely held back against them, so it was all the more realistic for the training teens. That, and if they were doing something wrong, he would not hesitate to tell them, whether it be something small like how Naruto could have done those hand signs faster if focused more, to the bigger things like how they should always be watching each other's blind spots. Ryuu made quite a few points with the latter, showing the three just how deadly it could be if they didn't. It's truly amazing what a few hard blows to one's head, back, or side can do in the name of learning.

Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu also worked with their individual weapons; Akimitsu and Akimi even willing to show Naruto, and in default Ryuu, more of what they could do with their control over the element water. The two of course did not show all that they could do, being rather weary of being inside of a different village and always having the off possibility that someone just might be watching them like Naruto and Ryuu said, but did show the two quite a bit so Naruto could have an even better idea of their skill levels and know what to watch out for since they both had some jutsu's that had rather wide range effects.

To show that Naruto really did appreciate the fact that they showed him some of their jutsu's, even when they both did not have too, he in turn showed them some of the different jutsu's that he gather from his and Ryuu's travels, or jutsu's taught by Ryuu. Though, he too did not show them everything that he knew, for the same as reason as Akimi and Akimitsu. No reason to give away all of his tricks just quite yet.

As a bonus for Naruto and Ryuu, Akimi and Akimitsu even offered to teach them both some of their clan's more basic of techniques. When asked by Ryuu if doing so would get the twins in trouble when they got back, Akimi replied that these techniques were the ones that are usually shown to others outside of their clan that wish to learn from them.

In return to Akimi and Akimitsu's kind offer, Naruto volunteered to show the twins how to make a proper earth clone and shadow clone even though the two already knew how to make water clones, as part of his thanks. He also showed them how to do some of the 'fun' jutsu's that the two liked when he was giving them examples earlier, which included letting them each have their pick on one of the few animal summoning scroll's that Naruto and Ryuu managed to come across during their travels.

All together, the two had a total of five different animal summoning scrolls, though Naruto only signed one of the five while Ryuu signed two of the five, even though he could have easily signed them all and Naruto sign at least another two to have a total of three different summon animals. Until he had a greater grasp on his charka control, Ryuu didn't think it safe to let him sign all five, which worked just fine for the blond teen; and to keep his options open, he only signed the one, leaving the other two slots open in case they came across an animal summons that he would really want, but could not have because he already hit his max for summons. As for the reason that they kept the other three was so it made it harder for others to gain them and sign them.

Then, to top off the already more than generous offer, Naruto had Ryuu help him teach the two some of the different training methods that he had learned when younger that only Ryuu's mind could think up. So, in short, the three did more of Ryuu's children's-games-turned-shinobi-training, the twin's favorite turning out to be Cops and Robbers. Ryuu had had the time of his life.

For Naruto, the hardest part of the nine days of training was learning how to use his kusarigama without having to worry about the off chance of hitting either Akimi or Akimitsu with it while swinging the blade from the chain or throwing it towards an enemy. Although he already had practice because he used it countless times while working on missions with Ryuu, there was a large difference between the twins and Ryuu when he used his beloved kusarigama.

When it was just Ryuu and he, they were able to work out a system over their many years of working together that allowed Naruto to use the weapon without the fear of hitting the man. After both teaching Naruto how to properly use the weapon and allowing Naruto attack him with it for practice (this was before Naruto was taught the many different ways of making clones), it was like Ryuu grew an almost sixth sense for the weapon when in use. Now, to Ryuu, it was almost second nature now to simply get out of the way of the blade or avoid getting caught up in the chain when Naruto swung it. He didn't even think about it anymore. Kind of unsettling, if one really thought about it, to have someone grow so use to another's weapon that they could virtually sense it.

With Akimi and Akimitsu on the other hand, though, the two were have problems getting use to Naruto's favorite weapon. Unlike Ryuu, this was only their second time ever _seeing_ a kusarigama, much less in action, and the first was only a brief demonstration that they saw while still in school. To have Naruto turn it against them as a form of practice of dodging for the twins had been, quite frankly, a living nightmare.

Akimi and Akimitsu had of course first watched how Ryuu moved around and dodged the deadly blade and the chain it was attached to with such ease and grace when he allowed Naruto to use him as a moving target for Akimi and Akimitsu to see how it was done. Ryuu was just hoping that by watching him move around Naruto's kusarigama, Akimitsu and Akimi would pick something up on how to dodge either getting sliced by the blade, getting caught by the chains, or hit with the weight on the end.

Sadly, all it really did was make the twins even more frustrated with the chained weapon. Whenever one of them tried to dodge the blade, all they got in return was a cut; and if they did manage to dodge the blade, they would get caught up in the chain, making Ryuu jump in to catch the blade before it had a chance to wrap all the way around them and in default, having the sharp weapon cut into them which would not be pretty.

In the end, it was decided by both Naruto and Ryuu that while in the exams, Naruto would only use the weapon if Akimi and Akimitsu were clear out of range or if it was just he against an enemy. Akimi and Akimitsu happily agreed with the decision, happy that they would no longer have to worry about getting hurt from their own team mate's blade, even if by accident.

Then, before the real Waterfall Nins and fake Waterfall Nins knew it, it was the night before the first exam.

Akimi was bouncing on the floor of their rented hotel room, silently looking from the door to the bathroom to the door leading the way out. Naruto and Ryuu were both standing off to the side, switching between watching their only female teammate bounce in place rather impatiently and the bathroom door. The three were waiting for Akimitsu, who at the moment was finishing up taking a rather long shower. He was already close to half an hour.

Able to take no more, Akimi quickly walked up to the closed door and proceeded to bang on it with a balled up fist continually, only stopping to yell above the running water.

"Come _onnnnn_, brother! You've been in there for half an hour already!" Akimi whined out, "I'm the one that's supposed to take the thirty minute long showers, not _you_!"

The only reply that she got was the sound of the water shutting off and incoherent grumbling. After a few seconds, he yelled out, "Fine! I'm out, happy? Now let me get dressed!" His voice was slightly muffled, though his volume did help in making it more understandable.

Akimi squealed in excitement at being one step closer to leaving. Spinning on her heels, she practically skipped back over to her previous stop and resumed bouncing in place. The only difference from then and now was that her focus was entirely on the door leading out with a look of longing.

Throughout the entire exchange, Naruto and Ryuu shared a quick look. Naruto's spoke of slight annoyance at the situation while Ryuu's spoke of amusement.

Late last night, right before they were to go to bed, Ryuu had promised the three 'genin' that if they could beat him in an all out battle at some point the next day, meaning that they had to make him admit defeat, then as a reward he would let them have the rest of the day off and take them all out for dinner since the first part of the exam was to take place the next day.

The battle itself had been, as Ryuu had expected it to be, grand, brutal, and had the potential of turning deadly at any given moment. When Akimitsu, with the help of his sister and Naruto, finally got Ryuu trapped in a situation that demanded him to surrender, the training ground that they were using was pretty torn up.

Most of the tree's were uprooted and blown on their side, sliced in half; diagonally, had holes the size of a large man's fist piercing through them, or simply gone; literally blown up by various ways. The ground which was once smooth and flat then had decent sized craters, a trench looking crack off to one side, and sharp, spear looking rocks sticking out of the ground which either pointed straight up or to the side. Littered all over were piles of mud, mostly from failed earth clones or one of the twin's water attacks that missed and mixed with the dirt on the ground as a result. Then, if that was not enough, scorch marks were all over, either in circles or long lines.

Three of the four gathered could honestly say that they felt sorry for the poor guy that had to clean and 'fix' up the training ground. Naruto just smirked beneath his ever present mask, his eyes dancing with laughter at the mental images that that thought brought. He could easily imagine the poor soul's face when he/she/they saw the mess that his team created.

Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, the bathroom door opened, drawing Akimi's attention away from the other door to her brother.

Stepping out, fully clothed and rubbing his hair with a spare towel, Akimitsu glared at his twin sister.

"Happy? I'm out." His tone was sharp, his annoyance clear.

In response, Akimi made a great show of rolling her eyes, her hands resting her hips as she leaned forward in an 'intimating' way.

"Yes, and it's about damn time, too!" she huffed out, tapping her foot and staring down her brother and his glare with one of her own.

Naruto rolled his own eyes in irritation, something that he sadly found himself doing a whole lot more the past couple of days. All he wanted was to leave and eat! What that too much to ask? As if answering him mental question, his stomach growled, making his eye twitch.

Naruto watched as Akimitsu threw the towel he was drying his hair with at Akimi, who dodged skillfully; he listened to their traded insults; he tolerated their petty temper tantrums, his twitch growing all the while.

Finally, he snapped, losing whatever thin patience that he was able to keep.

"That's enough." Akimi and Akimitsu instantly stopped their fighting, which by then just turned into a 'Who-Can-Yell-Louder' match, to look over at the other teen, wide eyed. Though Naruto's voice was only a low whisper, a hiss like quality to it, it was easily heard even with the twins yelling back and forth as loud as their lungs would let them.

Ryuu mentally mused if Naruto secretly added chakra to his voice, and if so, if he could do the same to his own voice. He was brought out his thoughts by Naruto talking once again.

"Good, now you two are going to listen to me and what I have to say, understood?" They both nodded quickly, still staring at Naruto with wide eyes. Neither Akimi nor Akimitsu had seen him angry before, and despite the fact that he was not yelling like most tended to do when angered, his version was by far scarier than if he was yelling.

Ryuu found himself mentally praying to any God or Goddesses willing to listen to not let Naruto lose control of his anger. The last time that Ryuu heard the blond teen talk like this, with this amount of calm, the man he was talking to found himself knocked out, tied up, and hanging from a rather high tree branch above a women's bath house; butt naked. The two then proceeded to watch as the man made the mistake of asking for help, cut loses, than beat to a bloody mess. Oh, he was still alive, but when the medics finally arrived, none of the women bothering to offer any help, it was found that he suffered one broken leg, a broken arm, several cracked ribs, and a rather bad head injury. He would be lucky to ever work as a shinobi ever again.

One of Naruto's favorite sayings was, to this day, '_Why should one do all of the dirty work when one can set it up where others can do it for you?_'

Naruto started down the twin's who were standing side by side, his arms crossed across his chest. Despite everything, his eyes remained blank, if not slightly narrowed. Akimi and Akimitsu both had to repress a shudder at the imposing looking teen before them. Now _this_ was the look of a deadly 'S' Class Shinobi. His vibe alone could cause most to turn and run with imagery tails between their legs.

"Now, the two of you are going to hold off on your petty arguments and same them for a later date. Right now, we are all going to leave this room, go out and have a large dinner, maybe go and shop a little bit, do some sightseeing, and then we are going to return to our hotel room and get prepared for the first part of the exam tomorrow, which includes getting at least six hours of sleep. Got it? And if not, so help me Kami, you two will find out first hand why I'm considered an 'S' Class Shinobi."

Once again, Akimi and Akimitsu nodded hastily, Akimi even holding back her comment on how they did not have _petty_ arguments, thank you very much.

Satisfied, Naruto inclined his head slightly, and dropping his arms back to his side. Going back to his aloof and emotionless personality, he casually asked Akimi a question, as if he did not just lose his temper a few seconds ago and virtually order them around with the threat of bodily harm.

"So are you still sure that you will be able to create that genjutsu for me?"

Still slight shell shocked by his quick personality change, she nodded before answering using words.

"Yes; it'll be quite simple for me to cover up your rather… interesting marks when the time comes for you to eat."

"Thank you for doing this for me. I've never been any good with genjutsu's, though I'm able to do some of the simpler ones. I'm much like Akimitsu when it comes to them even though I must have spent countless months trying to learn them."

Ryuu chuckled quietly, startling the twins. They forgot he was there for a few seconds. "Isn't that the truth? It's as if he just has too much charka and to little control to make them properly. It gets rather frustrating trying to teach him. I give you my sympathy, Akimi dear, if Akimitsu is anything like Fox here."

Akimi giggles while Akimitsu huffed angrily and crossed his arms across his chest much like how Naruto did earlier and Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at his father figure.

"We should be going now, Dragon." The blond said coolly.

Ryuu laughed and slapped his hand on Naruto's back, making Naruto almost tumbling forward from the sheer power of the slap. "Of course, Fox."

Glaring darkly at Ryuu's back, his own throbbing ever so slightly, Naruto fallowed after him, closely followed by Akimi and Akimitsu, amused looks on their faces.

Walking through the streets of Konoha had become much easier for the four over the past few days. All it really took was getting use to the stares that were sure to come, whether they are suspicious, curious, shocked and slightly hostile looks that recognized Naruto and Ryuu as Fox and Dragon, or just fleeting glances.

When the four finally arrived at the BBQ restaurant that they all agreed to eat at, they found the place rather crowded.

Akimi let out a light sigh, her brother whispering under his breath an annoyed '_great_', Ryuu frown, and Naruto's eye to mentally twitch. He was hungry damn it!

When a waitress finally came to seat them, they had already been waiting with growing impatience for close to twenty minutes.

"I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. As you all can see, it's really busy around here. You four arrived at the beginning of the usual dinner rush. Here's your table." She finished saying in on large breath, ushering them all into one of the booths in the back in front of some Konoha shinobi before giving them each menus and leaving with a smile and promise to be back to take their orders soon.

"Well then," Ryuu finally spoke breaking the four's silence, "that was interesting." The twins just nodded while Naruto blinked owlishly. Talk about a speed talker.

Shaking his head, Ryuu began looking through the single lamented paper which made up the menu; the other three following suit.

"Hmm, so do I want meat, meat, or maybe some meat? They sure do have a lot of choices here, don't they?" Akimi jokingly asked rolling her eyes.

"Well sister dear, this _is_ a barbeque restaurant. What all were you expecting? Some sort of salad bar?"

It was almost as if a tick mark appeared her forehead as she glared at her twin.

"Well dear _brother_," she spat out as is the word brother was the filthiest word know to man, "not everyone happens to like eating meat all the time like you."

Akimitsu's eye grew a twitch.

"You seem to forget, charming sister of mine, that it was _you_ that suggested this place, not one of _us_ meat lovers as you so kindly put it." He sneered back to her.

By this point, a few of the surrounding tables stopped their own talking to watch the two twins fight, some even going as far as leaning out of their own booths to get a better look. Naruto was covering his eyes with one of his hands, head shaking and muttering lowly under his breath different ways on how to make their seemly unlucky deaths look as accidents while Ryuu tried to hide his own face behind his menu, trying to hide his rather obvious snickers at all three of his 'students' antics.

"Well ex_cuse_ me for wanting to make you three happy, brother." Her hands clenched and she became slightly flushed with her anger.

"'Happy'? Since when have _you_ ever cared about anyone else's happiness? Are you feeling well?" He raised his hand to her forehead as if to check for a temperature. His hand was swatted away by Akimi's own hand.

"Keep your hand away from me. Kami knows where it's been." Akimi sneered, looking at the offending hand as if it was some sort of filthy creature.

Unsuccessful hidden laughter could be heard from the booth ahead of them, causing Akimitsu to turn around in his seat to glare at a (barley) dressed purple clothed blond, her hand covering her mouth.

"May we help you, Miss?" His eyes narrowed, taking in those with her. An older looking man smoking a cigarette, a heavy teen who ignored those around him and continued to eat, and a laid back teen who looked like he would rather be anywhere else then there. Nothing that really screamed threat, but then again looks were deceiving. Ryuu's kind appearance was an excellent example.

"Please ignore her." The lazy looking one spoke, his head tilted up towards the ceiling. "She's rather troublesome if not."

The blond immediately stopped her laughter, instead turning to glare at the half asleep teen across from her.

"What was that Shikamaru?" She hissed out. The supposed 'Shikamaru' only let out a sigh, not at all affected by the women's anger.

"Nothing, Ino; absolutely nothing." He rolled his head to where he was looking at her through half lidded eyes. The man sitting next to Shikamaru flicked away his cigarette butt, taking out a new one and lilting it up before inhaling a long drag, slowly letting it out. He, too, looked to be unaffected by the two teens fighting, as if it was a regular occurrence to him. Across from his, the other teen was still eating, even going as far as yelling out an order for another plate of meat.

Akimi and Akimitsu silently watched; Naruto and Ryuu even looked up to watch as the other two teens fought back and forth with one another; the boy calmly and with an almost bored tone while the girl heatedly stood up from her seat and yelled at said boy. They all could now see why people stopped to watch them; watching some people fight was rather amusing.

When it got to the point where the girl, 'Ino', dragged the boy, 'Shikamaru', up from his own seat and the oldest of the four finally stood to stop the soon to be fight, did the waiter come back to their table; still smiling.

"So are you guys ready to order yet?"

The twins and Ryuu blinked at her owlishly while Naruto motioned with his hand to the three standing a little behind her.

"Shouldn't you be doing something about that?" His voice was, as always, emotionless.

The waitress turned to glance at the three before turning to look back at them.

"What, that?" They four nodded. "Nah, it's quite common for those two to fight what with them being a new genin team and all." She shrugged carelessly.

Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "You mean that those three teens just now graduated from the academy? But they look much older than twelve."

Here the waitress gave Ryuu a strange look; as if he just sprouted another head without his notice.

"Of course they are not twelve's year old. About five years ago, the council members and Hokage decided to make the graduation age to fifteen instead of twelve, giving them a few extra years of training to do."

Ryuu made a silent 'oh'. "Well, that makes sense I guess."

She made a 'tsk-ing' sound, tapping her pen against her note pad. "So are you all ready to order or _what_?"

Glaring at the suddenly annoying waitress, the four took turns ordering, Akimitsu purposely taking a bit longer just to annoy the women.

Giving Akimitsu an annoyed look, the waitress turned and walked back the way she came, completely ignoring the still angry blond who was now being held back by the cigarette smoking man while 'Shikamaru' just stood there, looking as bored as ever. The fourth member of the team was still eating.

Shaking his head, Ryuu turned to Naruto.

"Who would have ever thought that Konoha would do something smart for once and raise the graduation age to become shinobi?" Naruto had to mentally laugh at that, agreeing. Outside of his mind, he just nodded.

Akimitsu scoffed. "Not like it's going to make any difference. As long as the three of us are teamed up, no one can stand in our way. After all, we got the legendary Fox with us." He smirked, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms.

Next to him, Akimi's eyes flashed excitedly.

"For once, I have to agree with my brother. I'd love to see them try and beat us."

Naruto smiled softly, though it was hardly noticeable what with his ever present mask.

"Be careful you two; overconfidence has a bad tendency to lead to disaster."

Here, Ryuu jumped in. "Come now, Fox, overconfidence is allowed if you got the power to back it up with. And I know for a fact that between you three, you all have more than enough power to win this exam."

As Ryuu spoke, Naruto continued to watch his fellow 'genin'. They were all possible exam takers. Possible enemies; possible allies. And if enemies, since when was _he_ one to lose to the enemy? His smile widening, he looked over his two teammates and Ryuu.

Inclining his head slightly, he let his own eyes flash with excitement.

"Whatever you say, Dragon. You are, after all, the jounin instructor."

The twins shared a look of pure delight, Naruto's head still bowed. Ryuu looked them all over, mentally nodding to himself.

'_Yes,'_ he silently mused, leaning back in his seat, '_quite powerful, all three of them. Now the only question left is if they will be able to have the control to properly wield that power.'_ He spared a glance over towards Naruto at the last thought.

The next day, the day of the first exam, could not come soon enough for any of the three, which of that he was certain.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.

* * *

Despite Ryuu's thoughts on them all being ready to go when morning came, it seemed that the morningcame a little too soon for the twins of the group. Before either of them knew it, the alarm clock that Ryuu had set the night before went off, beeping in that annoying pattern that all alarm clacks seem to do.

_BeepBeep, BeepBeep, BeepBeep, Bee-_

Akimitsu smirked sleepily at the now kunai embedded alarm clock, sparks flying lightly from it. The red numbers that displayed the time flashed for a few faltering seconds before dying out and becoming an empty black screen. Smoke slowly rose, curling around the kunai as it continued to rise towards the ceiling.

"Take that, you annoying, annoying…._thing_…..you!" He muttered towards the inanimate clock.

Akimi rolled over to her side to get a better look at her brother, still lying in her claimed bed, a single eyebrow raised; her amusement was plain to see.

"Really, Akimitsu? 'You annoying thing, you?'" She asked as if she were an adult confirming the silliest thing that a child might have said to an elder with the up most seriousness.

"Shut up, Akimi. It's too damn early to think, much less talk. I'd like to see _you_ do any better." The moody boy snarled back, scowling all the while.

Just as she was about to respond with a not so polite comment, proving that she could in fact do better, Naruto interrupted by opened the bathroom door, walking out fully clothed and hair slightly damp showing that he had just got out of the shower.

"So what is it that has you two fighting this time, or do I even wish to know?" he asked with an lightly raised eyebrow, the first thing seeing upon exiting being Akimitsu's glaring at his sister and said sister smugly smirking at her brother.

"Oh, you know; the usual. How Akimitsu here refuses to believe that he is simply incapable of forming sentences that one can understand in the morning, or at _any time_ for that matter." Akimi replied off-handily while sitting up and stretching her arms above her head.

"And you can't forget Akimi being her usual bitchy self in the morning, or _all _the time for that matter." Akimitsu shot back in the same tone his sister just used, waving a hand in his sister's direction as he looked over his finger nails in a way that would have been expected of his sister instead.

Naruto simply said an even 'Ah', more then use to their almost constant fighting in the morning. He usually found it quite amusing to watch and listen to.

Looking between the two before his eyes landed on the kunai impaled alarm clock. Blinking a few times, Naruto tilted his head.

"Soooo, what did the alarm clock do to the two of you to deserve such a painful death?" He drawled in a bored tone.

When neither Akimitsu nor Akimi answered, Akimitsu out of embarrassment and Akimi simply because she was content watching her brother squirm under Naruto's suddenly lifeless yet pricing gaze. Said blond just sighed as the silence continued to stretch and pinched the bridge of his masked covered nose.

"You know what? I think that I'd rather just not know." Naruto spoke, looking between the two. "Just be aware that whoever was the one that 'killed' it is going to have to pay for it." He finished saying, watching as Akimi smiled smugly yet again at her brother while Akimitsu grumbled incoherently, glaring at the alarm clock as if it was the one at fault.

Shaking his head, Naruto decided to just ignore them for the moment. Moving from his spot by the bathroom door towards his backpack sitting next to his homemade bed on the flood, he rummaged through it looking for everything that he might need for the day. He spared a quick glance at the two twins that still sat in bed.

"You two should to get up and get ready to leave." When neither appeared to be in any hurry to move, more content to take their time in things, Naruto's eye twitched though it went unseen by the other two. "Like, _now_. If we can leave within the next half hour, we will have some time to do some last minute training. Dragon is out now making sure that we have a training ground to work at, so start moving!" His last few words were accompanied with a pointed look going from one to the other.

Akimi was the first to slide out of bed, though her brother was up and stretching just a few seconds after silently grumbling about 'slave-drivers' and 'having no time to rest these days'.

Naruto and Akimi shared an amused look as she passed him to get to the bathroom to take a long hot shower no doubt, if only to use up the rest of the hot water before her brother got the chance; a single though passed through their minds as their eyes did meet, '_Akimitsu will never change'_.

Akimitsu continued his not so silent complaining, completely unaware how much his actions amused his other two teammates. The black haired boy's head jerked at the sound of the bathroom door closing; it took not even a full second for him to realize that his sister had beaten him to the bathroom yet again. Within an blink of an eye, he was at the door, pounding on it while yelling loudly for Akimi to open up and let him take the first shower; promises that he would not use up all the hot water again if she allowed it. His loud demands were met with laughter and an amused 'No'.

Naruto smiled lightly and shook his head, silently commenting the moment to memory. Who knew how many others like these he would be allowed to have in the future?

* * *

When the three finally met up with Ryuu, it was well past the time limit that Naruto had set earlier on and in default made them keep Ryuu waiting on them which, of course, led to both Naruto's and Ryuu's annoyance.

"Where the _hell _have you three been?!" Ryuu demanded to know, crossing his arms over his chest in an imposing way, glaring darkly at the three teens as they continued to walk towards him. "One of you better have better of been dying to have kept me waiting for so long."

Instead of one of the teens replying to him, Ryuu was virtually ignored in favor of Naruto who was in the middle of a rant that Akimi and Akimitsu were forced to listen to. Instead of becoming more angered, he simply raised an eyebrow, his arms still crossed, and listened in on the rather heated rant that to anyone else would just seem like he was giving a dull lecture.

"Thirty minutes I had said. I told you both multiple times that we needed to leave within thirty minutes. But does either of you two listen? No." Though his voice was soft and monotone, all three could easily read beneath it and hear Naruto's true tone, and it was not something that they liked listening to as an angry Naruto was an unpleasant Naruto. "One hour and eighteen minutes. It took you two an _hour_ and _eighteen goddamn_ minutes until you both were ready to leave." Even with all of the control that he holds over his emotions, he could not keep his anger slipping into his last sentence to where it was painfully obvious to everyone how he felt.

Both Akimitsu and Akimi each had at least the decency to blush and look apologetic; Akimi even grimacing as she looked away from the angry yet calm looking teen between her and her brother. Akimitsu looked at Ryuu for help, but he just took a step back and shook his head; he was going to clearly stay out of it. His revenge for the two making him wait for so long.

"Now," Naruto continued on his angry rant, though no one besides those that truly knew him would have been able to tell his mood, "instead of having two hours for some last minute training, we only have," he gave a quick glance at a new wristwatch, "forty-one minutes!" He 'hissed' out, sending a very light glare to Akimi than Akimitsu. The two both cringed back, he was really pissed. "That's just enough time too properly stretch and let Dragon here tell us what he knows of the first exam. Thank you very much, you two."

Before Naruto could continue on belittling the two, Ryuu stepped in.

"Now, now Fox. Calm down and relax." His voice was calm and even, though commanding. Naruto gave Ryuu one of his looks that only he could understand and did as he was told.

Taking a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds, he let it out slowly. Crossing his arms over his chest, he nodded towards Ryuu, showing that he was calm. Akimi and Akimitsu shot Ryuu thankful looks, happy that Naruto's anger was no longer directed at them. Ryuu returned the thankful looks with a dark grin.

"You can always continue your little 'lecture' after the exam, Fox."

Akimi's and Akimitsu's jaws actually dropped open at this, eyes widening in pure shock. Naruto on the other hand, for just a fraction of a second, allowed his eyes go from dull and lifeless to sparking with amusement then back again. Ryuu continued to smirk, getting the twins of the group back for making him wait through Naruto.

"Sounds good to me." Naruto spoke, choosing to ignore the two groans on either side of him.

Ryuu nodded than quickly turned serious.

"Now, about the exam." All three teens all seemed to perk up and pay more attention to the words that Ryuu were saying. "As you three know, there are usually three parts to this exam."

Ryuu held up two fingers. "The first two are almost never the same from the previous exams though there are country's that are known to do the same three exams when ever it's their turn to hold the exam. There is a system though that is commonly used by every country, though, just like the third part of the exam is always the same in every country." Here he put down one of the fingers that he was holding up, leaving just the one. "The first part of the exam is used to weed out the weaker teams; teams that would most likely end up dead in the second and third part of the exam. As such, the first part of the exam is more used to test a team's skills, whether it is the entire team or a single person of a team varies." Ryuu stopped briefly, letting what he said sink in before moving on.

Once again putting up two fingers, he continued. "The second part is a lot harder than the first part. Again, it's used to weed out the teams that don't possess the right skills to become chunin. At this stage of the exam, the risk of dying raises significantly. Here's your team skills are really put to the test, much more so than they might be in the first."

Once again he paused, looking them all in the eye one at a time. Holding up another finger to make three in total, he went on in his explanation.

"The third and final exam is, as I said, always the same in every country. It's a one on one battle against someone from another team. Sometimes, though very, very rarely, they might put you against someone from the same team although that has not happened in a few years. This part of the exam is largely for show, though. It's when the different countries get a chance to show off their best of the best if one of their teams makes it to the final round. Even though it is more for show than anything else, the final part of the exam is what your graded on the most on whether you become a chunin or not."

At this point in Ryuu's speech, Akimi and Akimitsu stiffened up while Naruto looked as bored and uncaring as ever. He had already heard the speech before when he was younger when he asked Ryuu how the shinobi move up in ranks. He even got to see the last part of the exam once when Ryuu and he were visiting the Rock country. He had been ten at the time and found it utterly fascinating to watch. He would be lying if he said that he was not looking forward to if not the first two parts, only the third part of the exam, if his team even made it that far that is.

Naruto was brought out of his mental musing by Ryuu speaking once again; though from the looks of it he was speaking more to the twins then to Naruto.

"Here's the fun twist of the final exam though. Even if you lose you fight, you still have a chance of becoming a chunin and winning does not mean that you'll automatically become a chunin either. It all depends on how well you did in your fight. This is where you individual skills are judged. Also your outcome in the final part of the exam has no effect on your teammate's results. You could all pass, none of you could pass, or only one or two of you might pass and successfully become of chunin level."

Akimitsu and Akimi both nodded, slightly less tense then they were before hand.

Ryuu grinned brightly at the three, clapping his hands together. "And now, all that's left is for me to tell you the location of the first exam and get in some morning exercises. Even though none of us know that the first part of the exam will be, it's better to be fully stretched then get a leg or arm cramp at a crucial moment, no?"

The twins replied with bright 'Yes Sir!' and fake salutes while Naruto simply nodded though found that he also had an urge to also give a fake salute along with the twins but quickly dismissed it.

"The meeting place for the first part of the exam is going to be held at the resident Shinobi Academy." This got raised eyebrows from two of the three teens. "You are to all go to room 308. That's where you three will meet your first instructor. As it is, you guys have roughly thirty minutes to get there to be on time, so you three should leave in about ten minutes just in case. Now, let's quickly start the warm ups. The faster you guys get them done, the faster you all can leave for the exam."

Akimitsu groaned and muttered darkly 'more like _deadly_ warm ups'. Naruto and Akimi shared an amused look between each other even though Naruto's look looked more pointed than amused.

Leave it to Ryuu to morph simply yoga moves meant to stretch out ones limbs into a 'Dear Kami, I can't feel my arm anymore!' sort of stretches. The only reason that Naruto even bothered doing them was that yoga did help with not only increasing his strength and stamina in the most unusual ways, but gave him a great increase in flexibility, helped clear his mind, and most importantly, reduced his stress levels. It was with only these thoughts in mind that he sat in between Akimi and Akimitsu and began with some of the basics.

* * *

It was fifteen minutes later that Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu found themselves in front of the supposed 'best of the best' Shinobi Academy. They didn't even pause to stare, instead going straight for the doors.

Quickly finding the stairs they reached the second floor. Just as they were about to ascend the second set of stairs that led to the third floor, a startled gasp made Akimi, who was leading, pause. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw to both her delight and horror the small group of kids that made her snap on her first day being in the village who she later found out to be the 'great' Hokage's grandson and friends. If not for that one fact, she would not had hesitated to at least glare and leek a small amount of killer intent. As it was though, she simply met her brothers than Naruto's eyes, smiled at them, and continued walking up the stairs.

Not even half a dozen steps later, she was brought out of her forced good mood by the little snot calling out to her.

"Wait, you're just going to walk away!? What kind of shinobi are you!? Or is it that you're just showing your true colors, those of a coward!"

Throughout the kid's entire mini rant, Akimi gripped her hands into angry fists. Her body shook very lightly, showing that she was trying very hard to surpass her rage in case she did something that she might regret. Like go over, dispose of the brat's friends, quickly kill him off, and get rid of his bodies while erasing all of the evidence that might point everything back to her. The only thing that kept her from doing so was her brother resting his hand on her shoulder and gently steering her forward.

Naruto on the other had stayed behind a bit longer to give one of his small lectures to the group of three. Turning around, he took a few steps down the stairs so that he could see them all better. Crossing his arms over his chest, he starred them all down with his lifeless looking gaze that most fully trained shinobi could not continue to keep eye contact with. As expected, all of the children before him looked away. The fact that he still wore the mask with the red outline of a fox's mouth smirking with sharp fangs showing also didn't help in the courage factor for the three little ones.

"I do hope you know that the only reason that you are still standing with no injury marks to speak of is merely because of your status as the 'Honorable Grandson'." Naruto's voice was unusually cold and hard as he spoke though it still had a hallow sound to it none the less. "And normally not even that foolish title of yours would have stopped my teammate except for the fact that in causing you bodily harm would in turn cause a war between our different nations."

"Seeing as you most likely have been pampered all of you life and treated with respect from all, you probably think that the shinobi world is something like a game that you can quite or call a timeout whenever it gets to hard or dangerous. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you most likely think that since your grandfather is this village's Hokage, you're safe and protected no matter what you do or say unless someone wishes to invoke his wrath. Just a minute ago, you called my friend and teammate a coward, yet the only coward that I see is you and your pathetic friends." The lead boy with the overly long scarf flinched back, his head to the side and hands clenched in fists, feeling mixed between anger and fear.

"You, little boy, might what to think the next time you speak. Outside of your safe haven that you call a village, others won't be as lenient and kind as we were, _especially_ since you're the Hokage's grandson. My advice to you and your friends there is to grow up. This world of ours is not meant for little children wishing to play ninja, but full of fully trained men and women who kill for a living.

"There is no good in this world just as there is no bad. There is only the mission that you are given, either it be to help guard someone, steal something, or spill another's blood; even if they are children or women. I do so hope that you three realize it before it's too late and the results are most unfavorable for yourselves. Good day. " With those final words, he sharply turned on his heels and briskly climbed up the steps to the third floor, leaving in his wake two terrified children and one very thoughtful one.

* * *

Eleven year old Konohamaru silently watched as the older masked teen turned and left, his appearance thoughtful. His two friends Moegi and Udon stood behind him and were lightly shaking, not that he paid either of them any attention.

The words that the blond spoke to him kept repeating themselves over and over again inside his mind as if on repeat and he couldn't find the stop button. Unconsciously, he griped onto his overly large scarf, rubbing the rather soft fabric that it was made of. It was one of the few things that he had that use to belong to his father before he was killed in a mission.

That older teen couldn't have been right, could he? His words must have been lies, trying to scare him and his friends. Yeah, that must be it. There's no way what he said could have been true. After all, he was no coward and not _everyone_ treated him with respect.

'_I mean, if what he said _was _true, then that would mean that grandfather and uncle have and still kill innocent women and children and there's no way would either of them do that!'_ Konohamaru fiercely thought, completely convinced that his last two remaining family members would never do such a thing. '_It's grandfather and uncle for Kami sakes! They only hurt those that deserve it.' _

His last thought made him pause; going back to what the teen told him.

"_There is no good in this world just as there is no bad."_

Konohamaru was brought out of his silent musing by someone tugging on his arm lightly. Blinking a few times, he looked over to see what it was that was now griping on his arm. Seeing Moegi looking at him with an unspoken question in her eyes, he forced a smile that seemed to fool her.

"Don't worry, I'm okay." Konohamaru found himself speaking in a soft tone instead of his loud, childish one. "Hey you two, let's keep what just happened between the three of us, okay?" He asked hopefully. For some reason, he didn't want either his grandfather or uncle to find out what happened. It was like he knew that if he told either of them, especially his grandfather, something bad would happen. What, he wasn't sure, but he just knew something would happen.

His friends gave him strange looks, but gave in the end and agreed to not tell anyone what the blond teen said to them.

Pushing everything to the back of his mind to think of when he was home or alone, he smiled more freely and led his friends out of the school.

After all, there was no way that what that teen said could be true. It's just not possible. Right?

But if that's so, why was his stomach twisting and why did he feel just a slight hint of truth in the deadly looking blond?

* * *

When Naruto finally met back up with the twins, they were waiting for him in front of the door that they needed to enter to take part in their first exam. Akimi was looking only slightly calmer. She was still glaring and her arms were crossed over her chest, though she was no longer shaking in her rage which was a good sign. It meant that she would not decide to unleash her rage on some poor soul that just happened to get in her way.

Akimitsu, who was talking in a soothing way, paused and shot Naruto a brief and curious look before giving his attention back to his sister. It was obvious that he wanted to know where he was and just what he was doing for so long; if a few minutes could even be considered long.

Ignoring him for the moment, he walked up to the other side of Akimi. Catching her eye, he tilted his head slightly with his eyes as dead looking as ever, silently inquiring if she was alright.

He mentally mused just how scary that the three of them had only been a team for a little over a week, and yet the two already knew how to catch Naruto's silent body gestures and the meanings behind them.

Giving him a small smile, she simply nodded her head. Nodding his own head, Naruto gestured with his hand towards the door they were all standing before. He raised an eyebrow.

Akimitsu quickly got his meaning and asked Naruto's question for him.

"You ready to go in, Akimi?"

"Yeah, let's hurry up and get this done and over with." And with that, Akimi reached out and slid open the door that separated them from the first part of the exam.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I would just like to give a quick thank you to a reviewer Josh for pointing out that my previous weight that I had Naruto as at his current age was not all that healthy. I have changed it from 120 pounds to 165 pounds. Hopefully that is a much better weight ^^;

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.

* * *

Akimi and Akimitsu shared a confused look and as one took two quick steps back. Staring dumbly at the sign that had the numbers 308 printed across it, they looked back into the empty room.

Naruto watched with hidden amusement as they did all of this, impressed with just how in sync they were with one another without even realizing it. Biting the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling, he made his way into the empty room.

"Hey Fox; I think that we're at the wrong place!" He heard one of the twins call out behind him; no doubt being Akimitsu.

Naruto ignored him though in favor of walking to the back of the class to the seat in the corner left. Sitting, he watched as Akimi and Akimitsu stalked up to him.

"Okay Fox, what the hell is going on here?" Akimi demanded, her hands resting on her hips. Akimitsu crossed his arms over his chest, frowning.

"Nothing is going on, Akimi. We have made it on time so there is no need to worry." He spoke lightly; not at all threaten by Akimi's tone.

"What do you mean we're on time? No one else is here!" Akimitsu chimed in, adding his two cents to the conversation.

Naruto had to resist the urge to sigh and roll his eyes at the two. "Well of course no one is here yet. We're an hour early."

Both Akimi and Akimitsu's jaws dropped in shock, eyes widening slightly.

"An h-hour ea-early!" Akimi stuttered, her mind blanking though it was clear the only female on the team was pissed off. "What the hell do you mean we're an hour early!? I thought that we were going to be late by the way you were acting!" She yelled at him, throwing her arms in the air.

Akimitsu just stood off to the side, glaring. He was more than happy letting his sister handle this.

"Yes, Akimi, we are an hour early." Naruto spoke as if speaking to a child. "And we _were_ almost late. But luckily, we aren't. Now would you two please sit down and shut up?" Even if he did ask, the two could clearly tell it was more of a command.

Shooting him glares, and cursing lightly under their breaths, they did as asked and sat. Akimi sat beside Naruto with Akimitsu sitting on her other side. Once sitting, Akimi did not hesitate to turn in her seat and stare him down. Akimitsu, seeing that they would get nothing out of Naruto that the blond teen did not willing say, decided to instead cross his arms over the desk and lay his head on top of them.

"So just why, may I ask, are we an hour early?" Akimi demanded. Akimitsu listened in from where he sat/laid.

Naruto rested his elbow on top of the desk and propped his chin on it, looking at Akimi with pure boredom.

"We are here so early so we can see who our fellow competition is as they come in. We will be able to judge them, maybe not as accurately as we would in battle, but judge them none the less. This way, we know who stands where. You have to remember that besides that one Konoha Team that we ran across last night at dinner, we do not know who all else will be coming for the exam."

Quite reluctantly, Akimi nodded her head in agreement. Even though she hated to admit it, her temporary team mate was right. They did need to scout out their competition if they wanted to do well in this. Beside her, Akimitsu just rolled his eyes, though not that Naruto or his sister saw. Leave it to Naruto to come up with such a logical reason to come to an event an hour early.

"Well, that and I wanted to get good seats." Naruto mused out loud, looking up at the ceilings.

Akimi's jaw dropped slightly in shock. After quickly realizing that she was staring at the blond with an open mouth, she snapped it shut and instead glared; a light twitch forming by her eye. Akimitsu had to stifle a laugh. Now that's more like it! A much better reason if he may say so.

Naruto ignored Akimi's scathing look, choosing to instead pull out a book from seemingly nowhere and set about reading it.

With Naruto reading and ignoring her and her brother catching up on his sleep, the only female of the group sighed, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the ceiling to count the small holes to pass time.

It took close to twenty minutes for the door to reopen and allow for a new group to walk in and join them. Naruto was the first to notice them, yet he did not look up from his book. Akimi was next, and unlike Naruto, she looked away from the ceiling and looked them over briefly before looking back up towards the ceiling and resumed counting all of the many holes that cover it. They seemed to have been made by bored students seeing how they were kunai and shuriken marks.

Akimitsu inched his head up from his arms and also looked over the three new teens. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he recognized them as the group that they had the displeasure of meeting last night. He made eye contact with the teen that had his hair pulled back at the top to his head, making it share the resemblance with that of a pineapple. Akimitsu distantly remembered the blond female of the group (Ino?) calling him Shikamaru.

Akimitsu blinked tiredly at Shikamaru, which the other boy returned with a tired blink of his own. The male twin of Naruto's group gave a quick look over towards the lazy teen's teammates and took note that they sat right up in the front row. The girl in purple 'cloths' (was she desperate for attention or something?) was too busy fixing her hair to notice her surroundings while the much larger boy (never did find out his name) was content with eating a bag of chips to care about his surroundings.

Looking back at Shikamaru and re-catching his eye, Akimitsu raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question. '_Is that really your team?'_ The pineapple haired teen seemed to understand his question and sighed lightly as if answering. '_Sadly'_ He sent a look over to the boy who was still eating chips before looking back at Akimitsu. Shrugging his should and sending a brief look up to the ceiling, he continued their silent conversation. '_He's okay though, so it's not all bad'_

Akimitsu gave Shikamaru a two finger salute, silently wishing him luck with his female teammate during the exam before laying his head back down on his arms. Shikamaru smiled lazily at the teen and went to join his teammates.

Naruto went back to his book after discreetly watching the two boys interact with one another. He found if terribly amusing how they could have an entire conversation without having to open their mouths to do so. It must be because they were both lazy and since talking took up to much energy, they learned to speak without actually speaking, but by their body jesters. One would think that that would take up even more energy than speaking, but apparently that little fact never occurred to all those lazy people out there. What's more, Naruto had to wonder just how they knew what the other meant.

Oh well; he'll just save that thought for a rainy day.

After the Konoha team showed up, more and more teams began showing up until ten minutes before the exam was scheduled to start, the room was full yet teams kept showing up forcing them to stand off to the side or lean up against the walls. The tension in the room kept building and building, making those weaker ill at ease.

One particular red headed boy from Suna, who was in front of Naruto's team by two rows, seemed to be leaking off killer intent in the masses while standing protectively in front of a sitting blond haired girl that appeared older than him by a few years with his arms crossed over his chest. Whenever any one of the boys in the room was unlucky enough to look at her or in her general direction, the red head would turn and glare at them with an emotionless face. Not even his other teammate could get to close to the girl without the red head aiming all of his killer intent at the poor guy who would in turn back up with his hands in the air showing he meant no harm.

The girl on the other hand seemed unfazed by everything, content to sitting and leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed and humming softly to herself.

When Akimi spared the blond teen a glance at hearing the hum, the red head stared her down and aimed most of his killer intent towards her. Akimi shook ever so slightly with large eyes, not use to having so much aimed towards her at once but unable to look away. Akimitsu looked over at his twin. Seeing her in such a state, he followed her line of sight to see what was causing her to react so badly. He, to, froze up upon receiving a blast of the red heads killer intent, receiving much more than his sister did.

At this point, Naruto narrowed his eyes and leaned forward in his seat, resting his masked chin on his folded hands and glared right back at the red head. When the teen turned all of his killer intent towards Naruto, he was mildly shocked to see it have no effect on the blond. Irritated, Red, as Naruto dubbed him from that moment on, leaked out even more killer intent making it hard for those weaker ones to breath, much less move.

Naruto continued to remain unfazed, not moving an inch from where he sat. It was as if something deep inside him simply refused to bow down to the other boy, much less let his killer intend affect him. It was like he was immune to the feeling and pressure in the air.

Hazily, as if in a dream, he heard a voice in the back of him mind that demanded that he make Red over there back down and force him to leave himself and his teammates alone. If Naruto was told to describe the feeling later, all he would be able to say was it felt like an animalistic instinct; like he was being attacked by a smaller and annoying animal who was trying to claim what was his, making him want to snap back and kill the weaker animal; or in this case, Red. For a second, he truly felt like he was as his nickname suggested; a deadly fox.

Deciding to think about the matter later and talk it over with Ryuu when given a chance, Naruto finally gave into half of his irregular urge. Glaring, he sneered at Red even though it was cover by his mask and let out his own killer intent which easily matched that of Red's.

By now, most if not all in the room was staring at the two, looking back and forth between them with their eyes, not able to move their heads. Even the blond that Red seemed so intent on protecting had opened her eyes and was watching the two.

Naruto and Red ignored them all, their eyes locked in a battle of the wills; both refusing to be the one to look away first. Finally, Red looked off to his side, no longer able to hold the blonds' piercing blue gaze. When he looked away, he also stopped projecting his killer intent making it just a little bit easier to breath for everyone else in the room. Naruto though kept his gaze on Red, daring him to look back at him.

After a few seconds with Red continuing to glare out of the window with a large scowl on his face, Naruto finally allowed himself to also stop projecting his own killer intent and went back to his book that had lain forgotten on the desk in favor of watching the other teams come in and looking them over.

As quickly as it came, his animalistic urges and that raging voice in the back of his head left, as if content with how the situation had turned out. Naruto briefly allowed himself to wonder '_What the hell just happened?'_ before pushing the thoughts away for further analyze later when he had more time to think.

He really needed to talk to Ryuu. Hopefully he would know why he just experienced the great urge to attack someone for glaring at both of his teammates until said person gave into him and showed a sort of submission. The last thing he need was for an urge like that to come back and make him lose the self control he has worked so hard for.

He spared a glance at Akimi and Akimitsu to see how they were faring. He was met with looks of disbelief and a tinge of fear showed in both of their eyes though they tried to hide it when he looked over at them. Naruto's stomach twisted; they were afraid of him.

He looked forward, not wanting to see their look of fear towards him. Naruto was use to having people fear him; his nickname alone caused most people to freak out, so their looks of fear should not bother him as much as it did.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the door slamming open and a single man walking in. It was plain to see, for at least Naruto and maybe a few others present, that this man was going to either be their first instructor for the first part of the exam or take them to their first exam. Looking him over, Naruto leaned towards the former instead of the latter.

He had an air of power around him, making it clear that he was at least of jounin level if not a member of ANBU. His face was hard; no emotions besides annoyance showing with his eyes looking like steel. The way he carried himself spoke of well earned pride and grace and his stance was full of self confidence. His outfit consisted of a grey button down shirt and matching grey pants with a black trench coat thrown on top. He wore deep blue gloves with a metal hand guard and his Konoha headband truly did look like a head band, covering his entire head from view. A few scars littered his face which just added to his look. All in all, this was a man not one wanted to mess with.

Naruto, instead of being intimated, just thought the man needed to get laid as soon as possible.

"Everyone sit down, shut up, and pay attention!" His voice was deep and his annoyance became even clearer. He obviously did not want to be doing this. Well that or he was a really good actor. "I will only be saying this all once! My name is Ibiki and I will be your first instructor of the chunin exams." Here, Ibiki smiled in a way that one would when amused at another's pain. Mixed with his scars and all around look, his smile did not bode well for those in the room.

"For the first part of the exam, you all are going to play a little game."

Naruto had never wanted to hit his head against something as much as he did right then. He settled for letting his eye twitch and mentally cursing the chunin exams and Ryuu as an afterthought. The other teams in the room though seemed to perk up at this, some of the tension in the room leaving at the thought of playing a game.

He noticed how Akimi looked over towards him with her own smug smile in place. A smile that said she was silently laughing at him and his luck. Leave it to the chunin exams first exam being some sort of game the one time that Naruto is finally allowed to take part of them. Oh, the irony of it all.

"You all are going to take part on a scavenger hunt of sorts that will take you all over the village in order for you to find everything that is required. Each team will be given a sheet of paper that has a total of ten items on it; these will be the items that your team will need to find. The first six will be the same as everyone else's, but four of the ten will be personal. You will not be told what items are the same and which items are different.

"You all will have until day break tomorrow to be back in this room with all of the items on your list in order to pass this part of the exam; you will also need the sheet given to you so we know that you do in fact have all of your items and have not just brought random things. We also have extra copies of the lists, so don't think about trying to change anything on the list or saying that you accidentally lost it. It you do not make it on time or do not have all of your items, then your entire team will be disqualified and have to take the exam at a later date." Ibiki looked over everyone in the room, his gaze lingering on Naruto a bit longer then required before moving on to another person.

"Everyone will need to send one person from their team to receive a copy of their teams list." A woman walked in through the still opened door carrying a stack of papers. Setting them on the desk that would have usually served as the teacher's desk, she moved to stand behind it and waited. Ibiki moved and joined her, staring down the class full of chunin hopefuls that had yet to move.

"Well? Move! We don't have all day here!" Ibiki snapped, finally losing his patience. All at once people started to rise and make their way towards him to receive a scavenger hunt sheet. Among Naruto's group, Akimitsu was the first to rise so he was the one that went to obtain the sheet.

As Naruto stood, preparing to leave once Akimitsu returned, he mulled over the situation. He did not like; did not like it one bit.

Everyone not belonging to Konoha would be at a severe disadvantage compared to those that grew up and lived here. While he did grow up here for the first few years of his life, that was nearly a decade ago; there was no way that he would know where to find everything even with the week that he had to become re-aware of his surroundings. And then there were the teams that had just arrived the other day; they would have little to no chance. Was Konoha so unsure of their genin's talents that they had to give them something as easy as a scavenger hunt?

His train of thought was halted as Akimitsu made his return. He was frowning and staring down at the list in undisguised disgust. When he finally reached Naruto and Akimi, he snorted and handed the sheet of paper to Naruto. Placing it between himself and Akimi so that she could read it too, he looked over the list.

There was no headline that proclaimed the paper's purpose, only a list of seemingly random objects. At the very bottom of the sheet was what appeared to be a serial number?

As he read the items themselves, he wanted to roll his eyes.

_1 A Blue Rose_

_2 A Kunai with the crafters signature etched on the blade _

_3 An ANBU Mask_

_4 A Copy of Ichi Ichi Paradise _

_5 A Bamboo Hat_

_6 An Old Konoha Newspaper _

_7 A Sake Bottle_

_8 A Bright Yellow Shirt_

_9 A Black Cat_

_10 A Dango Coupon_

_15FH7A3FW _

Akimi rubbed the bridge of her nose, giving an exaggerated sigh of annoyance.

"For the love of Kami, please tell me that this is not our list of items." She muttered to her two teammates. Her brother patted her shoulder in a consoling way in as a way of answer.

Naruto gave his own light sigh and looked up from the list of items. "What's truly sad is that we already have half of these items and the rest will be simple to find or come across. How…depressing."

Akimitsu shook his head sadly, agreeing with his blond teammate. "Oh well; nothing we can do now but get the remaining items I guess."

"And hope that Dragon never finds out that this was supposed to be a game. One could just imagine how offended he would be." Akimi offered dryly.

Akimitsu chuckled. "While that would be fun, he would probably just make up his own scavenger hunt for us to do if only to show us all how one should really be done." He added.

Naruto nodded, the sheet of paper folded and placed in one of his pants pocket. "And knowing Dragon, it would be near impossible to do." He added in his own two cents to the conversation, secretly glad they the twins were no longer looking at him with fear in their eyes.

The three shared an amused look before Akimi stretched her arms above her head.

"Well, we might as well get moving. What do you two think we should go after first?" She asked before yawning, showing her boredom. By now, they were the only team left in the room with their first instructor which they all ignored.

Naruto and Akimitsu shared a look, one asking the other what they thought. Naruto shrugged his shoulder, not really caring. Akimitsu tilted his head back, his hands in his pockets.

"Well, I guess we can go after the first item on the list and just go down in order, skipping the ones we already have."

His sister and Naruto nodded.

As they were leaving the room, Naruto leading with Akimitsu behind him and Akimi bring up the rear; Akimi could not help herself and waved cheerfully to Ibiki.

Ibiki watched as the odd group left the room. He would have been lying if he said that they did not interest him and he found himself hoping that they passed come the next morning.

Shaking his head and smiling in amusement, he picked up the remaining sheets of paper. He was no longer regretting not doing his usual written test.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.

Konohamaru stood in front of his grandfather's office, staring at the large wooden door with a frown in place. He thought back on how he had made his two friends promise not to tell anyone what had happened, and he had the feeling that he should not tell either. But here he stood; in front of his grandfather office wanting nothing more than to confront him and tell him want happened.

He had finally lost his two friends, using the excuse that he needed to finish his homework. It was plain to see that they did not really believe him, yet they smile and promised to meet up tomorrow like always.

Even after a few hours of 'the meeting' as he come to mentally call it, he still found himself thinking about what the blond had said to him and his friends. He could not for the life of him keep the thoughts away, even after all of this time. They just kept popping right back up as soon as he managed to push them away. Every little thing that he saw or heard reminded him of that blonds tongue lashing.

As a result, he found himself paying more attention to those around him. For the first time ever, Konohamaru began noticing how perfect strangers acted around him. He noticed how people, people that he had never met before in his life, would smile at him as he passed and wish him a good day or just say hello with a small bow to show respect; and they always called him 'Honorable Grandson', never by his name. Konohamaru even hid out for a bit, just to watch how the villagers interacted with other and with a deep frown he realized that he was the only person that this happened to. To others, villagers would either ignore them or outright frown or sneer. And yet, there was not one person that frowned at him; not one that ignored him in any way. He was treated like a royalty.

And, for some bizarre reason, Konohamaru did not like it. If anything, it made him feel disgusted and angry with not only those that treated him like so, but with himself as well for not noticing until now. Was he really so blind to his surroundings? Was he really such a child? Was he only getting this attention and undeserved respect because of his grandfather's title as Hokage? Was the blond teen right?

And then there was the other thing that the blond had said. How there was no good in this world of theirs, just as there was no bad.

Konohamaru's face twisted up in thought, his eyes narrowing as he continued to stare at the large wooden door that separated him from his grandfather.

If there was truly no good or bad in the world, then that would mean that he had been lied to. Konohamaru had been raised with the belief that his village, Konoha, was one of the good villages while all of the other villages were bad and could not be trusted. And he had always thought that, too, until a few hours ago. Now, young Konohamaru didn't know what to think or what to do anymore. Could it truly be possible that the blonds' words are in fact true, and his whole life he had either been deceiving himself or been deceived by those around him?

That thought alone made him feel sick to his stomach, yet there it was, refusing to leave his mind and plaguing his thoughts.

His mind supplied him with images of his grandfather and uncle going out on missions, only to kill innocent women and helpless children, all for the sake of money and being able to brag to other countries about their mission success rate. Even though he knew for a fact that the images were not real, being made from his own twisted imagination, he could not help feeling his stomach twist and knot unpleasantly none the less.

Konohamaru timidly raised a fisted hand, letting it hover a few inched from the wooden door; never quite touching the wood. He mentally debated with himself for a few seconds on whether or not to knock and just ask his grandfather, feelings be damned. At last, he dropped his hand back to his side. Sighing deeply and running his fingers through his short brown hair, he turned and made his was to leave.

He would find out for himself. He could not continue to rely on others if he wanted to truly become his own man or a great shinobi. He would have to learn to make his own decisions and choices on life; not follow someone else's views and always do as they say.

As he exited the building and made his way home, he spared a glace up at the blue cloud filled sky. 'Yes', Konohamaru thought to himself, 'I will answer my own questions; and I'll show that blond that I'm no coward!'

On the other side of the wooden door, the Hokage frowned as he watched his grandson leave the building with a grim yet determined look on his young features. He would have been lying if he said that he was not slightly worried for Konohamaru.

One would have to be blind and bad of hearing to not notice that his grandson was not quite acting like his usual loud and outgoing self. Usually Konohamaru would have not hesitated and barge right on in, coming to challenge him to a battle for the title of Hokage or tell him how his day at school went. Instead of coming right on in though, he remained outside his office door with a rather serious look; a look that had not been there this morning.

Now don't get him wrong, having Konohamaru serious every now and then would be nice, but when he became so serious in such a short amount of time like that, it made him pause as that is not normal behavior for anyone unless they were forced into becoming serious by an event of some type. And as far as the Hokage knew, no such event had happened to his dear grandson.

The aged Hokage took his pipe from his mouth, exhaling a small cloud of smoke. Shaking his head, he focused back on his crystal ball that allowed him to spy on those inside his village. He watched as the image changed from that of his grandson to that of a random team from the chunin exam. He would worry about his grandson and his mood change later; at the moment, he had other things that needed to be done.

* * *

Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu all stood in a circle on top of a building, discussing what they needed to obtain. Of the ten items on their list, between the three of them they already had five.

"So all that we really need to find to pass this part of the exam is a blue rose, a copy of Ichi Ichi Paradise, an old news paper, a sake bottle, and a bright yellow shirt." Akimi counted off in a bored tone, her arms crossed over her chest. She was, for lack of better terms, disappointed with the exam.

For years she had been told that the chunin exams were hard as hell; most that take it ending up dead and for those that survived and passed the last exam may not even gain the rank of chunin. And yet this was their first task; a pathetic and ill thought out scavenger hunt that they didn't even need to find half of the items for right off the bat. She was not pleased.

"Our best bet on finding a blue rose would be a flower shop and seeing as those types of shops is normally run by civilians, we should try and find the civilians shopping market." Much like his twin sister, Akimitsu was irked with the first task.

"That's a very good deduction Akimitsu, but there is one thing that you two seem to be forgetting which is rather crucial. The chance of locating a blue rose is going to be simply impossible for us seeing how blue roses do not exist in nature. False blue roses, on the other hand, are traditionally created by dyeing white roses blue, since the flower lacks the gene that produces true blue flowers."

Akimi and Akimitsu stared at Naruto, stunned into silence. Naruto stared back as if he did not just say something relayed to the genes of flowers. It was finally Akimitsu that broke the somewhat awkward silence.

"Uh, Fox? Just how in the hell do you know that?"

Naruto raised a hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose that was covered by his mask, sighing. Akimi and Akimitsu shared a look of slight shock; Naruto never showed emotion when they were out, much less a sigh. "Long story short? Dragon decided one day that he wanted to grow a flower garden at a home that we were renting, so he enrolled himself in gardening classes. He forced me to go along with him for company."

Akimi snickered behind her hand but it quickly turned into full blown laughter. The thought of two big, bad, S-Class shinobi taking gardening classes was just too much for her to handle. Her brother was soon to follow and he too began laughing. The blond watched the two siblings, irritated. Figures that they would laugh at his unpleasant experience. Bastards; the both of them.

Naruto stiffened though it went by unnoticed by Akimi and Akimitsu. Without moving his body, the blond looked towards his right which happened to be the buildings edge. Narrowing his eyes lightly, he looked back over to the twins.

"Akimi, Akimitsu, shut up. We have company coming our way." His voice was harder than usual and as such, the reaction was immediate.

Akimi and Akimitsu stopped laughing and stood straight and ready. They looked at Naruto for instructions. Earlier in the week the two twins had decided that it would be best if Naruto were to act as team caption once the exam's started, seeing as he had much more experience than them.

Naruto held up a hand, signaling for them to wait and stay where they were. Cocking his head to the side, he appeared to be listening to everything and nothing. After a few seconds, he lowered his hand and shook his head.

'Not a threat'

Akimi and Akimitsu's stances relaxed a fraction yet were still tense enough to jump into action if required. It took only a few seconds for a group of three to join them on the roof with them. The twins were quick to recognize them as the Konoha group that they seemed to keep coming across; Shikamaru, Ino, and the brown haired boy that they never caught the name of.

The lazy teen stood in front of his two team mates, hands stuffed inside his pockets and a bored look on his face. It was clear that, like Naruto, he was acting as group leader.

The blonde female stood on his left a few steps back with her hands resting on her hips as she stared down Naruto and his team mates as if daring them to move or make a sound. It would have been far more intimating if not for her dark purple outfit that just barely covered her more private areas and the air that surrounded her that just about screamed 'prissy bitch'.

The last member of the team stood on Shikamaru's right. Naruto noticed with vague interest that for once the beefy teen was not eating from a bag of chips as if his very life depended on it, though from the way that his hands were twitching and how his eyes kept darting to his pants front pocket, it was rather obvious that he was wishing that he was doing just that.

Turning his eyes back to Shikamaru, he nodded his head a fraction of an inch. "Hello there." He kept his voice soft yet hallow sounding, his dead looking eyes staring straight into the teen's across from him. "How may we help you?"

Shikamaru removed a hand from his pocket and rubbed the back of his neck. With a muttered 'how troublesome' he tilted his head to the side and sighed.

"We have a proposition of sorts for you three. If done right, it can benefit both of our teams." He drooled, no real enthusiasm in his voice.

"Oh? And what might this proposition of yours be?" Behind him, Akimi shared a quick glance with her brother, an eyebrow raised. Akimitsu shrugged back as a response, not knowing the answer to her silent question.

"As I take it, your team does not really know its way around our village." He paused, looking for any indication that he might be wrong. Seeing none, the lazy teen continued. "We can help you there. We'll show you where you can find the items on your list."

"My, my, that's a very kind offer. What is it that you three would want in return though?" Naruto tilted his head to the side just enough for it to be noticeable.

Once again Shikamaru sighed and spared a brief look over to his team mates behind him than turned back to Naruto and returned his dead yet piercing stare with one of determination.

"We ask for your team's help in keeping others from attacking us and helping us obtains our own items if needed. In other words, we watch each other's backs and help each other find our needed items."

Naruto made a small noise in the back of his throat that sounded similar to an 'hmm'. He mulled over the offer silently, eyes half lidded as he continued to stare down the three in front of him.

If he wanted to be honest with himself, the extra help would be nice and would not take them nearly as long to find the last items on their list. Seeing as these three actually lived in the village, they would know their way around it a lot better than him.

The extra protection that they would provide was also a positive. With the six of them working together as one team, it would be a lot harder for another team to ambush and attack them.

No matter how he looked at it, the only drawback that he could find with it was the fact that he would be helping Konoha shinobi, something that did not appeal to him in the least. But he was not selfish enough to say no for just that reason. He had Akimi and Akimitsu to also think about, and they would need the Konoha team's help just as much.

With that thought in mind, he turned to face the twins, trusting them to watch the group standing behind him as he gave them a questioning look.

Akimi spared Shikamaru and his to team members a sharp look, appraising them. After a few seconds, she turned her attention back to Naruto and gave a small nod, showing that she agreed to the plan if he did.

Much like his sister, Akimitsu also gave the other group a long, hard stare before he too nodded his head, his eyes remanding on the Konoha Team.

With their answers in mind, he turned back to Shikamaru with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Very well. We will agree to join you and your team for this part of the exam."

Shikamaru gave a lazy looking smirk while Ino seemed to sigh with relief. The third member remained completely unfazed by it all as he finally seemed to give in and pulled out a bag of chips from his pants pocket.

Naruto wanted to shake his head at the teen's actions but instead motioned for Akimi and Akimitsu to follow him as he moved to get closer to their new allies. The two teams formed into one medium sized circle. Naruto remained in between the twins just as Shikamaru remained in between his two team mates. Akimi stood beside the other blonde, Ino, while her brother stood next to the brown haired boy that seemed incapable to stop eating.

"To start things, we should all introduce our selves so we all know who we're working with. I'll start. Hello," Naruto raised a hand and tilted his head to the side, "you three may call me Fox." His tone was flat and as always, emotionless.

"'Ello there Konoha team. My name is Akimitsu Takahashi." He gave an exaggerated bow, one hand behind his back with the other out in front of him.

Akimi rolled her eyes at her brother's antics. "Akimi Takahashi. That thing over there," she pointed her thumb towards Akimitsu who pretended to look offended, "is my brother if you can't tell. And yes, we're twins."

"Shikamaru Nara." Shikamaru muttered, not really paying that much attention to everyone else, content to watch the clouds pass by overhead.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka." She held her hands behind her back and leaned forward a tad, showing off more of her chest to Naruto and Akimitsu in a seductive way. Naruto didn't even bother to look, feeling more disgusted than anything with the fact that she might as well have been wearing no shirt at all. Unlike most teenage boys, or full grown men for that matter, he was more inclined to like women that respected their bodies; as in not walking around half naked in an attempt to attract attention.

"Chouji Akimichi." The brown haired bow managed to get out in between bits. Now it was Akimi's turn to hide her disgust. Eating that much food was neither healthy nor natural.

"Now that that is out of the way I need to ask if of your ten needed items, do you three have any of them already?" Naruto questioned looking towards Shikamaru for the answer.

Instead of Shikamaru answering, Ino spoke up.

"Oh course we do! We already have four of them!" She flipped her long hair to where it was laying on her shoulder.

"Oh yeah? We have five of the ten already." Akimi said smugly, her arms crossed over her chest as she smirked at the blonde beside her.

Ino turned her attention from Akimitsu to Akimi, her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. Before she got a chance at replying, though, Shikamaru interrupted.

"What items do you three have left to find?"

"We need a blue rose, a copy of Ichi Ichi Paradise, an old news paper, a sake bottle, and a bright yellow shirt." Naruto responded before asking his own question. "What items does you team need?"

"Besides the old newspaper, we need the same as you three as well as a bamboo hat. At least this will make things easier for the most part."

"What do you mean 'for the most part'?" Akimitsu questioned.

Shikamaru was once again rubbing the back of his neck as he stared up at the sky. "Konoha news papers stopped printing papers about five years ago."

Akimi and Akimitsu both cursed in sync and Naruto frowned lightly, to light for it to be noticeable because of his mask.

"Now that is a problem. Do you have any idea as to where we might be able to find one?" Naruto inquired.

To the surprise of Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu, Chouji was the one that answered.

"My aunt has a few copies. Before they stopped printing, my aunt's restaurant made the front page. She ended up buying a couple copies of that issue so I'm sure that we ask and explain why we need one of the copies, she will probably lend you guys one."

Naruto inclined his head and thanked the boy.

"To show our thanks, we have one of our extra bamboo hats so that's another item that you can check off your list." Naruto offered.

"Thanks. Now we should get moving, eh?" Shikamaru spoke.

"Very well. We were just about to go out and get a white rose and blue dye before you three showed up to make a blue rose."

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds good to me. We'll head over and get the dye first than go over to Ino's families flower shop. We should be able to find a couple white roses there. Right Ino?"

Ino crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her nose in the air. "Of course we have white roses! We only carry the best of the best after all."

Naruto had to force himself not to smack the girl. He found himself liking her less and less as time went on. He saw Akimi's eye twitch and her hand shake; it seemed that he was not the only one to dislike the other blonde. He fought off a smirk and instead inclined his head.

"After you." Naruto extended an arm, motioning for them to lead the way.

"Ino, you go ahead and lead." Shikamaru spoke, his hands in his pockets as he turned and walked over to let ledge of the building waiting for Ino to start moving. Ino nodded and after sending a wink to Akimitsu and Naruto, she began jumping from roof top to roof top, the others close behind.

This was going to be a long day.


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors Note:** Wow, it's, uh, been a while. What can I say besides real life sucks sometimes and things come up? For me, things like to come up one right after another. Between school, getting sick, family issues, and friends turning out to not be friends, real life does suck at time. Thank you though to all of those that reviewed ^^ It really made me happy to see. And a special 'Thanks' to **Fuyuriku** for reviewing to every chapter, even though you pointed out all my faults ~Coughs~ Still, I thank you. That being said, I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter. With if officially ends the first part of the Chunin Exam's!

**Warning:** This chapter has not yet been looked over by my beta, but once it is I'll replace it with the beta-ed version.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I do own this plot line and my few OCs.

It was official; Naruto absolutely loathed the blonde haired teenage girl named Ino Yamanaka.

Her constantly flirting with Akimitsu and himself alone was enough for him to be annoyed with the girl. Add to that, though, the constant sneers and plain rude remarks directed towards Akimi was what really had his hatred for the blonde growing at rapid rates to the point that he had to force himself not to lash out and attack.

While not knowing Akimi for that long, Naruto still considered her to be a friend; acquaintances at the very least. Now don't get him wrong, he wasn't attracted to Akimi in a romantic way, he just found that he was able to get along with her and her brother better than most he met which was saying something as he was forced to meet with quite a few people because of his occupation. Since there are so few people that he truly liked and got along with, he was rather protective of those that were able to become more than just another stranger, enemy, an employer, or someone he sees on occasions for some reason or another.

Hell, the only reason that he had yet to snap and show her just why he was considered deadly and 'S' Classed in the Bingo Book was for the fact that no matter how much he hated to admit it, and he truly did loath to admit it even to himself, his team did need the Konoha team's help in gathering the last item on their list within the time limit. Given they still had more than enough time until the deadline, he much rather get this part of the exam done and over with as soon as possible. Though, not even that thought would be able to hold him back much longer if Ino kept this behavior up. Her bullshit was really starting to piss him off to the point that his eye was beginning to twitch ever so lightly.

He sent a glare to the other blonde's back as he followed after her, wishing for that famous saying 'If looks could kill' to be true if only for this occasion.

Thankfully, with their combined efforts, they had already gotten four of the five items left on both his team's list and the Konoha team's list and now were down to one for each of their teams; his team needing an old newspaper and the Konoha team needing a bamboo hat. It still surprised him to find out that Konoha didn't sell something as simple as bamboo hats when they seemed to sell everything else thinkable inside their many shops. Hell, he had even spied an adult's toy shop between a health store and a small shop called 'Wild and Wacky Gifts' while they were out.

Akimitsu found himself hating Ino just as much as Naruto, if not more so. While he might have been attracted to the blonde female when he first saw her, he felt nothing but annoyance and a growing hatred for her now. His overprotective brother instincts were beginning to kick in, and he wished for nothing more than to go over and show that woman just why one should never mess with his little sister. True, Akimi was only younger by a minute and some odd seconds, but he was still older and as such, it was his job to protect his sister when needed, god damn it!

Akimi herself was only just barely keeping her temper in check. While able to work out her frustrations earlier on in the week when they first arrived, she found them all coming back and without a large tree or boulder to work her aggressions out on, she was not in the best of moods. She was deeply regretting having agreed working with the Konoha group.

And so it was with these thoughts swirling around within their minds that when a rival team of genin came their way looking for a fight, Naruto, Akimitsu, and Akimi were quite pleased and more than ready to use this as an outlet for their frustrations.

The poor Grass Team never stood a chance.

The group of three had only just landed roughly fifteen feet in front of Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino on a building's roof top with smug faces. Just as the teenage boy that seemed to be the leader of the small team opened his mouth to speak, Naruto, Akimi, and Akimitsu jumped into action, startling both the Konoha team and the Grass team.

Akimi and Akimitsu sprinted around Chouji and Shikamaru respectively while Naruto leaped over Ino and wasted no time in sprinting himself towards the group of three. The opposing team, a group from the Grass Country Naruto took in dimly almost as an afterthought, were in too much shock to move out of the way of their oncoming attack much less counter attack.

Naruto was the first to reach the opposing team though Akimitsu and Akimi were not far behind. While Naruto went for the teenage male that acted as the leader, Akimitsu went for the female member, Akimi going for the second male since they were right across from them.

The male facing off against Naruto managed to stumble back in surprise, not expecting the sudden advancement. Fortunately for the Grass Nin, however, by a stroke of sheer luck his stumble saved him from the punch that was aimed at the side of his head, Naruto's fist only managing to graze the tip of his nose. That was his only lucky break though, as Naruto's next punch landed, hitting the teen in the gut and knocking the wind out of him. The boy took a few steps back only to trip over his feet and fall, clutching his arms around his stomach as if to sooth the pain and drawing in large gulps of air only to cough in a painful sounding way a few seconds later.

The teen, Naruto decided to mentally call him Blue for the blue and black shirt he was wearing, was on his feet a couple of seconds later which for shinobi might as well have been a lifetime. Swaying lightly and with an arm still wrapped around his stomach, he glared at Naruto, spitting some blood to the side of him. Naruto returned the stare head on, his body posture relaxed and ready for anything. To Blue, Naruto looked completely bored out of his mind which only served to piss him off even more then he already was.

Not even half a second later of his growing rage did Blue once again open his mouth, no doubt to throw insults or something along those line and once again Naruto wasted no time in moving. Blue only managed to get out a syllable before Naruto was in front of him and this time Naruto's first hit landed; his fist connected with the side of Blue's face, sending him flying to the side.

He never did understand why some people thought that it was considered necessary to talk while fighting. Traveling with Ryuu for so many years, he had been subjected to listening to some pretty long monologues. It had gotten to the point that he had threatened Ryuu that if he ever did such a thing, the blond would kill him in his sleep.

Naruto eyed Blue; half expecting him get up again to continue their fight as he still had some steam to work off. He was disappointed though to see that Blue was down for the count, unconscious from the blow to the head with a headache that would kill when he woke up no doubt. Frowning lightly, Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to see how the others were fairing, pouting mentally. How anti-climatic.

Akimitsu had just managed to knock out his female opponent and after sharing a quick look with Naruto, he headed over to help his sister with her opponent. It took only a few extra seconds for them to knock him out as well, Akimi having giving him a rather bad beating before Akimitsu went over to help, and in those few seconds Naruto got an inside look into just how in sync the brother and sister worked when facing a real threat and not Ryuu or himself. Well, to be honest, none of the Grass shinobi seemed to be a _real_ threat. He knocked his out in only two hits for god's sake!

Akimi seemed to share his thoughts as she crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, no doubt annoyed that her opponent went down so fast. Her brother rolled his eyes at her as he bent down and began going through the Grass Teams belongings. Akimi quickly caught on and headed over to the female that Akimitsu knocked out, going threw her things as well.

Shrugging his shoulder very lightly, Naruto went and searched through Blue's possessions. Going through his pants pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper that was very much like his own. It was Blue's teams list of needed items. He repressed a scoff when he saw that only one of the ten needed items had been checked off; a Dango coupon. No wonder they tried to challenge them, though it was rather irrational on their part to willingly try to fight a group of six instead of finding a single team.

"Akimitsu, Akimi." Naruto called out softly, only loud enough to draw their attention. When they looked up from what they were doing and towards their blond teammate, Naruto held up the paper and waved it slightly. The twins were quick to stand and head over towards him. It took them only a few strides to reach him and when they did, Naruto handed the piece of paper to Akimitsu.

Naruto found himself silently amused to see that Akimi had found a sucker in her search and was lazily licking it as she looked over her brother shoulder to read the paper. Akimitsu sent a pointed look at his sister, not that it did anything besides making her grin at him.

When the twins finally got around to readying the piece of paper, Akimi rolled her eyes in an overdramatically way before going back to licking her stolen sucker while Akimitsu raised an eyebrow.

"Well at least this explains why they felt the need to attack up like that. They were getting desperate." Akimitsu mused out loud as he folded the paper and gave it back to Naruto who proceeded to slip it inside his pants pocket with the other two slips of paper they had picked up along the way. The less competition the better and even if the Grass Team were to get together all of their need items, without their sheet of paper they would automatically fail.

"Well? What did you guys find?" Ino's demanding voice cut in, startling the twins. They had nearly forgotten about the Konoha Team for a moment. Naruto on the other hand calmly looked over in their direction, taking in their tense stances and suspicious stares. He wanted to roll his eyes at their behavior. They were the ones that had wanted to team up with him and his team for extra protection and yet here they were eyeing them like the bad guys when they did just that.

"It's their list of needed items. They only have one of the ten items." He spoke before turning his attention back to his own teammates.

"They only have one item? They must be really pathetic." Ino said with distain, her nose in the air in a snobbish way. Naruto found himself wanting to say that without him and his team, that supposed 'pathetic' team would have attacked them instead and they had to rely on others for protection and help; even if the Konoha Team wasn't exactly all that weak they didn't seem to be all that strong either.

Instead he shared an annoyed look with Akimi and Akimitsu. Lucky Akimitsu saved his from having to speak.

"Why don't we continue on now? We're wasting time with all this ideal chit-chat."

Before Ino had a chance to say something that would no doubt make Naruto and his teammates even more annoyed, Shikamaru cut in.

"Your right. We should continue heading to Chouji's house and get this exam over with." He spared a glace over to his large friend. "You want to take over leading now, Chouji?"

The brown haired boy nodded and took off silently. Naruto was really starting to like him; he was silent and preferred to stay out of things unless needed.

Much better then Ino by far.

The others were quick to follow after, all wanting to be done with the first part of the exam and move on to the second.

It was four hours later that Naruto, his team, and the Konoha Team were finally able to head back towards the ninja academy, all varying on different levels of tiredness.

While Chouji was right about his aunt have a few copies of Konoha's newspaper, a dozen to be exact, it seemed to have slipped his mind on telling them that the older woman was rather possessive of them. It had take two hours alone to get her to agree to think about letting them borrow one for the day and another two hours of doing random tasks, house hold chores, and even more convincing on all of their parts for her to hand one over and even then she nearly changed her mind!

The only good thing about the whole experience was when Chouji's aunt chewed out Ino when the blonde had insulted Chouji in front of her.

Finally, though, Chouji's aunt relented and handed over one of her copies with the threat of death if anything were to happen to it.

As soon as Akimitsu had the paper in possession, Naruto reached into his pocket and withdrew a sealed scroll. A bloody finger and a small cloud of smoke later, the Konoha team had a bamboo hat. Not bothering to saw anything, Naruto had turned and left, the twins close to follow. He had vaguely noticed that the Konoha Team was following as well, but he didn't think much of it.

The trip back to the ninja academy was quiet for the most part. Every now and then Ino would try to start up a conversation but it was quickly shot down with a glare from either Akimitsu or her own team mate Shikamaru.

When they reached the room that the first part of the exam was taking place at, the two different teams was quick to separate and go off to their seats from early on. No words were spoken between them; their truce was over. They were now back to being 'enemies' of sorts, both teams wanting to be the best and be given the rank of Chunin.

Sitting, Naruto found himself faintly proud to see that his team and the Konoha team were only beaten by the one Sand Team and one of the teams from Rain.

Naruto was amused to see that the red head from Sand glared at him for only a moment before turning his attention back to the front of the room. Like before, he was sitting next to his blonde teammate with his third teammate standing off to the side. He was tempted to go over and strike up a conversation to see what would happen, but refrained. The last thing that he and his team needed was to get into a fight because he couldn't control himself.

Instead, he resigned himself to waiting and let him mind wonder in his boredom.

Naruto was beginning to think that dawn would never come. Akimi and Akimitsu had fallen asleep a few hours ago, one on either side of him. He had decided to stay up just in case, seeing how they were all waiting in a room full of chunin-hopeful. The last thing that he needed was for one of the other teams that had made it try something. So, he had told the twins to get some sleep and eyed the few that had managed to stay awake as well.

Of the thirty teams that had originally set out to become chunin, fifteen teams that had made it back. Of those fifteen teams, only five others were awake besides him. Like him, others had tried to stay awake while their team members slept, but alas, not everyone it seems is capable of fighting off sleep.

One of the ones awake was Red which didn't really surprise him. If those dark circles around his eyes were anything to go by, Red didn't sleep much if any. At the moment he was occupying himself with staring dully up at the ceiling; his arms crossed across him chest and his large gourd sitting next to him. His blonde teammate was asleep, her head resting on her crossed arms. The third member of his team was sitting on the floor up against the table, head resting on his chest.

Another was a younger girl from Rain. She didn't look any older then thirteen. Her short black hair was pulled back in a bun and she also sat between her two teammate; both were male and also looking around thirteen. The young girl was keeping herself busy by reading from a small book. There was just enough light in the room that made such a thing possible yet still dark enough for the others rest to sleep.

The third was a boy from Grass. He looked to be the same age as Naruto. He looked as if he would fall asleep any second now; his head falling forward only for him to jerk back into a sitting position. One last head jerk and he finally seemed to give in and laid his head down on the desk. Not even seconds later did he start to lightly snore; those left awake were now down to four besides himself.

The last two awake were both from Konoha and both looked to be his age, one seemingly older than the other. The first had long dark brown hair; almost black looking in the dim light. Naruto would have called him a girl if not for witnessing what happened to the last guy that had made that same mistake. His eyes were a light lavender color and seemed to have no pupil, making him appear blind though Naruto knew that that was far from the truth.

The blond tried to think back to one of Ryuu's many lessons on the different Kekkei Genkai that existed in the world, knowing that he should recognize it. Going through the list, he narrowed it down to one of the Kekkei Genkai that worked through one's eyes, he automatically ruled out the Sharingan. There were only three know Sharingan users left in the world, one not even being a real Uchiha, another a rouge shinobi, and the last one, well, he didn't know much about the last one besides the fact that it was a he and he lived in Konoha. Yet still, Naruto knew that those with the Sharingan were Uchiha and the Uchiha didn't have such eyes.

So that left one other option given the circumstances; the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.

Oh how he hated that certain Kekkei Genkai. There was just something about it that made a cold shiver go down his spine whenever mentioned. Well, it could be because he did _not_ like the thought that at any given time, a shinobi was capable of destroying another's chakra system if that really wanted with something as simple as 'poking'. Add in the whole 'seeing through walls, buildings, people, and basically anything else we want' really unnerved him. Go figure.

The other Konoha shinobi awake was yet another boy and also looked to be around his age. His back, nearly blue looking hair was styled in the back that gave one the impression of side way spikes that went wrong. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, his eyes narrowed in a constant glare. His hands were folded with his elbows resting on the desk, his chin on top of his hands. There seemed to be a dark cloud around him, keeping people at bay. What really caught Naruto's attention, though, was the clan symbol that the boy wore on the back of his shirt. The boy was an Uchiha; he had the Sharingan.

Great. Just _great._ Naruto not only did he have to face the Byakugan, but the Sharingan as well. The only high light that he could find was that they were on different teams and held no love for one another. If he was lucky, they would attack each other and be done with it, though with his luck, he would no doubt go up against either one of them or both of them.

Naruto pushed the thoughts out of his mind. Now was not the time to have a small freak out. He was labeled as an 'S' Class Missing Nin for Kami sakes and the last he checked, 'S' Class shinobi did _not_ freak out. Well, unless they were being chased by hungry, angry, adult bears that somehow were able to chase shinobi without falling behind. _Then_ were people allowed to freak out, but seeing how there were no rampage bears, Naruto would just have to hold in his urge to panic ever so slightly.

It wasn't as if he was afraid of the Uchiha, much less their Kekkei Genkai, but he was no fool. He knew what the Sharingan was capable of. Even at its weakest level, it was still capable of copying another and tracing their movements to a certain degree. It would be foolish of him to not be even a little bit wary and cautious if he were to fight against the young Uchiha.

As he was thinking, Naruto absentmindedly took out a kunai and twirled it around his finger, his eyes looking out the window. The only noise in the otherwise silent room was that of page turning, light snoring, and the constant ticking of the clock that hung on the wall next to the door.

Naruto briefly entertained the idea of acting like Akimitsu and throwing a kunai at the clock, but resisted no matter how tempting it was. He really didn't feel like being forced to replace it like how he was having Akimitsu replace their hotel's alarm clock.

After what seemed like hours, the sun started to peak over the mountains, giving the sky a pinkish hue. Not even seconds later was the door slammed open causing many, if not all of those sleeping to jerk awake at the sudden noise.

Beside him, Akimi and Akimitsu both jumped, looking around wildly for the cause of the noise. Their eyes landed on the heavily scared man that was their proctor for the first exam; Ibiki was his name if Naruto remembered correctly.

Ibiki was quick to cover the space between him and the center of the room; following after him was a young man, his head down as he looked over a clipboard.

Ibiki glared out at the crowd of genin, quickly taking in that only half were there waiting. Smirking, something that only added to his fearsome image, he placed his arms behind his back. He took a second to look over the gathered group before finally speaking.

"Well, it's good to see that some of you have managed to complete such a simple task. Now we'll see just who actually managed to gather all of their needed items." His smirk turned into a nasty sneer. "Have your items ready and sheet out! My assistant and I will be coming around to check off your items and I want this done as soon as possible. Believe it or not I have better things to do then play baby-sitter to you bunch."

There were a few who glared at his comment, Akimi included, but everyone did as he said and prepared their needed items.

Naruto withdrew their sheet of paper, unfolded it and placed it on the desk in front of him. Next, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. Much like last time, a few drops of blood later and a small poof later, a pile of items was revealed. Spreading them out showed them to be a kunai with the crafters signature etched on the blade, an ANBU Mask, a bamboo tat, an old Konoha Newspaper, and a bright yellow shirt.

Next to him, Akimitsu did the same as him, though his items were a copy of 'Ichi Ichi Paradise', a sake bottle, and a Dango coupon. Akimi lazily bit her thumb and started to form a few hand seals. When she completed them, she laid her bleeding hand on the table. Much like for Naruto and her brother, a poof of smoke appeared. When it cleared it showed a very young panther cub, which easily passed off as a small black cat.

The three silently waited for Ibiki and his assistant reach them, Akimi amusing herself by playing with her summoned animal. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Ibiki to reach them and even better, they were the last ones left to be checked so they could hopefully leave once finished.

Ibiki silently reached for their sheet of paper, mindful of Akimi's summon.

"Copy number 15FH7A3FW." Ibiki spoke in a drawl, noticeably uninterested with his current situation not that Naruto could blame him. He was just as bored.

Ibiki's assistant silently ruffled through the papers on his clipboard, looking for a copy to match their items with. Finding it, he handed it to Ibiki who proceeded to compare the two sheets of paper. Satisfied, he looked over the gathered items, checking them off as he went.

Reaching the last item, he nodded his head and handed both pieces of paper back to his assistant. He wasted no time in turning on his feet and heading back towards the front of the room. Once there, he turned to stare down the fifteen groups of three.

"Congratulations. You all have passed the first part of the Chunin Exams. You all are one step closer in becoming documented Chunin. If none of you have realized the purpose of this part of the exam was to see how well you all are in gathering needed items in a certain time limit. Obviously, it will be unlikely that on true missions you will need to gather such items like the ones that you have yesterday; more than often it might be a stolen or lost item that will need to be retrieved. None the less, it's still important to be serious no matter the item, as proven here." He did one last sweep with his eyes before waving his hand towards the door.

"Now get out of here. Your next instructor is inside the room across the hall. I suggest you all move to it; she's rather impatient."

Everyone in the gathered room besides Ibiki and his assistant were quick in gather their items that were still laid out in front of them. Naruto took to resealing everything back into a scroll while Akimi let her summon leave with a final playful tap on the nose.

Like last time, Naruto, Akimitsu, and Akimi were the last group to leave, deciding to wait behind instead of trying to fight their way through the mob of genin.

"Well that was fun." Akimi said sarcastically, rubbing her scratched and bleeding hand. Her summoned panther cub was really good at pouncing for one so young.

"Loads." Akimitsu murmured. He was in the process of falling asleep while standing and walking; an amazing feat if he said so himself.

Naruto hummed, silently agreeing with Akimi. Hopefully the next task would be more of a challenge. Kami forbid it turn out to be another game.

'_Damn it, I think I just jinxed myself.'_


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Before you all start yelling at me about taking so long to update, please hear me out! This entire summer so far I have been up at my Aunt and Uncle's house, house and animal sitting for them while they are out on a cross country trip (lucky…). Believe it or not, internet is hard to come by up here in the mountains and sadly, my Aunt and Uncle see no point in going through the trouble of getting it. The only reason that I can actually post this chapter is because I've run out of food (been expecting it, having been up here for six weeks so far) and until one of my neighbors gets the chance to take me to the nearest store (a forty minute drive give or take a few minutes) I'm 'camping out' at the next door neighbors house in order to eat. Why they just can't take me to get food now, I don't know, but I'm not complaining. They, for some strange but glories reason, have internet, even if it is really slow dial-up. Their eight-year old daughter, bless her adorable little heart, has agreed in letting me take over her computer to type this up for you all. So everyone say 'Thank You Nikkole!'

**Important:** I went back and re-wrote part of chapter three to make more sense and be more believable.

**Warning:** Has not been looked over by my Beta yet; I really wanted to get this out so when I get back home I'll have her look it over. Also, sorry if it seems rushed, it kind of was. No matter how kind Nikkole is on letting me use her computer, she is still an eight-year old and wants to play every game known to man with me. **Finally**, the computer and I got into a fight; Microsoft Word decided to add in random page breaks and won't let me take them out no matter what I try, so sorry about those. ~Grumbles~

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though I do own this plot line and my few OC's.

Naruto was really beginning to think that the Goddess known as Fate was getting a kick out of messing with his life. Not only was their second Chunin Exam instructor a purple haired psycho who seemed to enjoy throwing around kunai a little bit too much to be healthy, but from the sounds of things so far the second exam itself could easily be considered as yet _another_ game. He knew that it was extremely bad luck to curse a God or Goddess, but that didn't stop him from sparing a look at the ceiling and up towards the heavens, insults flying through his mind towards the Goddess of Fate.

"Let's _follow the leader_, Fox!" Akimi whispered from his left, covering up her laughter all the while at seeing how Naruto was currently gripping the sides of his chair tight enough for the wood to creek, threatening to crack under the mounting pressure. At her comment, Naruto couldn't stop the slight twitch that appeared on the side of his upper lip, making him want to snarl at the teenage girl. Thankfully, he was able to stop himself before doing just that.

Akimi knew that Naruto hated playing the games that Ryuu loved and insisted were training, going so far as disappearing for a few hours to avoid having to participate in them. So the fact that the first two parts of the Chunin Exams could easily be classified as games of sorts really amused her to no end. Beside Akimi, Akimitsu gave a lazy smile, eyeing his two teammate; Naruto in particular. He was finding the situation just as amusing as his sister.

As soon as the three had walked into the new classroom and found seats in the back of said room, a woman had appeared with a large puff of smoke. Unlike their previous instructor Ibiki, she had no scars that could be seen, and with her choice of clothing there was little left to one's imagination. Her crazed grin and deadly looking eyes were more than enough to set all of the genin on edge though. One of the first things that the children hoping to become shinobi learned in most of the different academy was the major risks involved in becoming shinobi; risks that involved worst things then dying.

One such risk including loss of one's sanity. It was bound to happen to almost everyone at some point, they were told, whether it be because of seeing one too many loved one die or having done one mission to many. The lucky few that were fortunate enough to keep hold of their sanity either retired before it could happen or were killed themselves. It was clear to Naruto and everyone else in the room he imagined, that this woman was close to cracking if she hadn't already, and if she had, Kami help them all.

Anko, the name she had given them, had started things off with a rant about how Ibiki mush be growing soft since there were so many teams left. That only lasted for a few minutes, no one daring enough to interrupt her for fear got getting a kunai to the face much like one of the Konoha genin had, before she grinned that crazed grin of hers that spoke of her bloodlust and proceeded to explain the second exam.

They were to follow around one of Konoha's shinobi, ranks ranging from chunin to special jounin. As Akimi had so tauntingly put it, it was basically 'Follow the Leader'. Only catch being that if they were found out by the one they were following, said team would automatically fail the test and in turn fail the exam. What's more, every team had to give a detailed report on what their target had done that day. To make sure that they had simply not 'bullshit their report' in the words of their new instructor, every shinobi that was to be followed was to turn in a just as detailed report on their day. The two reports were then going to be compared to see if they matched up. The chunin hopefuls would only be allowed one mistake, meaning that if they did not have something that the other report had then they would not be disqualified and fail the Second Exam, even if the item missing was not important. On the plus side, the teams were allowed to add those little extra details that their follow-e might have left out, wither it be from embarrassment or simply forgetfulness.

"The more detailed the better!" Anko had snapped suddenly at them during her explanation. "I want to know everything that your 'target' does, wither it be dancing around their homes naked or spending an hour in the bathroom!"

The twins both shuddered, praying that neither of those be the case for them.

The only other thing going for the chunin hopefuls was that this part of the exam had been kept under wraps; the only ones knowing about the exam being Anko, some selected few of the ANBU, and the Hokage himself.

"Now," Anko spoke, ready to move on to the actual exam, "much like the last exam, one person from each team will come down here to the front and receive a packet at random which has the name of your target as well as a picture. You have half an hour to locate your target and begin your report. You all are to return to this classroom by eight this evening. Your results will be delivered to your jounin instructors by this time tomorrow telling you wither you lot will be allowed to move onto the Third Exam or not." She waited a moment for what she said to sink in. During the pause she moved behind the teacher's desk. Pulling out a key from her trench coat pocket, she unlocked one of the desk's draws'. Reaching in, she pulled out a thick stack of sealed packets. Dropping them on top of the desk, not caring that they spread out, Anko smirked.

"Well? Come get 'em! As soon as you get one head on out and begin!" She yelled out, hands on her hips, that crazed smirk never leaving her face.

Naruto was the one to stand this time, silently telling Akimi and Akimitsu that he would go and get the packet this time around. Being in the back of the classroom, he took his time reaching the front allowing those ahead of him to go first. Even then he was not last like he would have thought, getting there ahead of four others. Anko handed him a packet with narrowed eyes, smirk dropping for a second before coming back full blast, eyes promising death if not careful. Naruto took the packet with a blank face, sparing a moment to lightly bow his head before turning on his heels and heading back to his teammates. He ignored the curious looks and not so secretive glances, focusing on the back wall. He filed away the woman's reaction to him in the back of him mind to go over at a later time, along with the incident the day before with the teenage boy from Suna.

Reaching the twins, he handed the packet to Akimi as she was the closest to him. She wasted no time in opening it, pulling out two sheets of paper. Looking over both with quick eyes, she handed one of the papers to Naruto while she and her brother looked over the other more closely.

Looking down at the paper, Naruto was met with kind brown eyes and an easy-going smile. He was looking at the picture of their 'target', as their second instructor so kindly put it. Naruto eyes the picture, committing the face to his memory. He took in the scar that ran across the man's nose, reaching from the middle of one cheek to the middle of the other; the brown hair pulled back, much like the Nara boy's hair. See how it was only a head shot of the man, there was not much else to take in and as such swapped papers with Akimi and Akimitsu.

Besides stating the target's name, Iruka Umino, there was little to none information wise; the paragraph under the man's name simple repeating what Anko had told them all. The only other useful information that could be gathered was the fact that Umino was a current chunin and worked as a teacher for the shinobi academy.

Looking up from the paper he faced the twins, head lightly tilted to the side in a questioning manor.

"Well, let's get this over with." Akimi declared softly. Not waiting for a response, she maneuvered around Naruto and past the few other teams that decided to stay behind like them to look inside their given packet. Naruto's shoulder lifted in a barely recognizable shrug as he followed after the only female in their group, Akimitsu walking right behind him.

"Let the game begin." Akimi whispered under her breath only loud enough for Naruto, Akimitsu, and Anko to hear. Akimitsu responded with a dry, sarcastic laugh, his previous amusement surrounding the situation gone and replaced with his more serious nature that seemed to only come out when a mission was concerned.

Once outside the building, Naruto took the lead and brought them away from the public's eye and to a more desolated area. Checking the surroundings for any possible followers, no matter how unlikely it would be it was still a possibility. Naruto nodded to himself in satisfaction. The three teenagers didn't exchange words; none were needed between them at the moment.

Grabbing a kunai from the top touch on his leg, Naruto nicked his finger hard enough to draw blood, surpassing the wince that wanted to come out. He would never get use to that. Wasting no time, knowing that if he wasted too much time the small cut would heal before he wanted it to, he leaned down and wiped the small amount of blood on his kunai on the grass and replaced it back into his pouch. With that done, he preformed quick hand seals. Placing his bleeding hand on the ground, he silently thought about who he wanted. A small cloud of smoke appeared only for an equally small falcon to shoot upwards from the cloud; its wings flapping to an unheard beat. Looking over its surrounds once with its sharp eyes, the unlikely predator flew over to Naruto and landed on his outstretched arm.

"Long time no see, boss." Its voice was that of a males, his golden eyes looking over Akimi first them Akimitsu before returning to Naruto. The falcon itself was no longer the eleven inches from head to tail, wingspan a mere twenty-three inches. His back was red while his wings themselves were pure black, a single black strip running along his head. His stomach was rather pale compared to the rest of his body. All in all, it looked like any other falcon that could be found within the Fire Country.

"Shinobu." Naruto bowed his head respectively while keeping eye contact with the falcon.

The newly proclaimed Shinobu bobbed his head in its own version of a bow. Falcons always have been proud creatures that only gave its respect if it received respect. "Who or what am I looking for this time?" Shinobu asked, not wasting any time with pointless pleasantries.

Naruto spared an imploring look to Akimi who was still in possession of the packet that held the head shot and data of their target. Akimi handed over the picture without a word, her eyes remaining on the falcon, a curious look in them.

Taking the offered picture, Naruto brought his arm that was holding the falcon on away from his slowly, to not disrupt the bird, and held up the picture for Shinobu to see properly. "His name is Iruka Umino. He is a chunin that we need found within the next twenty minutes." As Naruto spoke, Shinobu was leaning forward and studying the picture just as intently as Naruto had done when they had first received it. When Naruto felt the falcon lean back into an upright position, he lowered the picture to meet the gaze of the proud falcon, waiting for the hunter to speak. He was not disappointed.

"Consider it done." And with that, Shinobu spread his wings and took to the skies. The three teenagers watched him go, following with their eyes until he was out of sight. Naruto held no doubt that his summons would be back well within the set time limit. After all, Shinobu had never failed him before, and was unlikely to start doing so now.

Akimitsu was the first one to break the silence.

"So, now what?" He asked no one in particular.

"Now? Now we wait for Shinobu to return. We go from there." Naruto answered as he handed back the picture of their target to Akimi who slipped it back into the original packet and seal it into an empty scroll, slipping said scroll into one of her pockets without a word.

They had been watching their target for a little more than thirteen and a half hours now, having started at six. Akimi and Akimitsu were ready to drop from exhaustion, Akimi more so than her brother. Naruto, use to staying up for days on end at times, gave his temporary teammates concerned glances.

Thankfully, they only had another half hour to go until they were finished with this part of the exam.

Earlier on, while they had been waiting for Shinobu to get back, the three had taken to going over their roles in the part of the exam. Akimitsu had been given the task of writing down the report as they watched, his handwriting not only being the neatest among the three, but the fastest writer among them as well. Naruto couldn't hold back the comment about 'so much for girls always having the better handwriting' when Akimi had declined writing on the excuse that no one but her and her family could even hope to read her handwriting. Not that the blond was any better; unless it involved writing out seals, Naruto's handwriting was so unreadable to anyone else besides himself that Ryuu offend refereed to it as 'handwriting so bad it would be an _insult_ to even call it chicken scratch'.

Naruto couldn't help but grumpily agree.

Akimi had taken up the job of using her skills in genjutsu to help them blend in better and make subtle changes in their appearances when needed. Naruto had never been as thankful for her skills in genjutsu as he had been at the time. Without the skill, he had no doubt in his mind that their job would have been a lot more difficult than it had been so far. While Naruto could pull off a basic genjutsu when needed, that was about all he could do in the subject; the basic.

Naruto had been given the job of 'look out', or in other words keeping track of their target, wither it be with Shinobu's help or on his own with the occasional help from Akimitsu. He also helped Akimi in keeping the brown haired chunin from taking notice of them, or anyone else noticing them for that matter in his own way and have his summons Shinobu help Akimitsu when needed, Shinobu taking up the job of 'data gathering' when they couldn't follow without fear of being noticed even with Akimi and her genjutsu. Shinobu would always report back whatever he saw or heard when they were able to regroup without it being obvious.

They spent the next and final half hour not only following around their target to get in the last few details, but also counting down the remaining minutes.

When the half hour was up and it was declared five minutes to eight o'clock by the clock hanging on the wall in the current Dango shop they were in, watching over their target as he ate dinner, Akimitsu and Akimi shared a grin while giving each other a high five, shoulders sagging in relief. Naruto on the other hand calmly stood up, placed some money on the table to cover their food, and headed towards the door, the twins following after, Akimitsu putting away their report that at the moment appeared to be a book thanks to Akimi.

Arriving back at the academy a few minutes later, one minute before it was eight, the three slipped back into the classroom that was acting as their 'headquarters' for this part of the exam.

Luckily, they were not the last ones there, though they weren't the first either. None the less, they walked to the back of the room and sat down in the last row. Despite being exhausted, the twins managed to sit up straight and appear alert, which were more then what some of the other Chunin-hopefuls were able to manage. After they sat, one other team entered; Naruto mentally sighed when he noticed that it was the Uchiha followed by his two teammates, both of which were female. And here he was hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with the 'famous' bloodline user. It was bad enough that the Hyuuga made it. The only silver lining that he could find was that it seemed that both of the girls on the Uchiha's team were more concerned with the Uchiha himself than anything else, even going so far as fighting on another on who gets to sit beside him while they waited.

Despite his earlier thoughts on the matter, Naruto said a silent 'Thank you' to the Goddess known as Fate for at least not letting his teammates act like those two girls.

As soon as the clock in the room stuck eight, their exam instruction entered, slamming the door shut behind her. As she looked over the room, her crazed grin appeared once more. Apparently she liked what she saw; just what that was, Naruto could only guess.

When the purple haired woman's eyes landed on the still fighting girls on the Uchiha's team, however, they narrowed, her crazed grin turning into a dangerous looking sneer; not that the two noticed. Naruto and the rest of the teens in the room watched in a mixture of fascination and unease as their exam instructor pulled out two Kunai's from her coat pocket, on in each hand. At a particularly high shrike of outrage from the pink haired one, Naruto briefly wonder if that being her natural hair color, Anko sent to two Kunai's flying.

Both Kunai's hit the back wall, imbedding themselves in by a few inches, but not before grazing each of the girl's cheeks hard enough to draw blood.

They shut up after that quickly after that.

The next ten minutes was spent with Anko collecting their reports in between rants about how far downhill the Chunin exams have come, the prices on Dango's now-a-days and how she had better things to do than baby-sit a bunch of sniveling children. No one dared to comment, instead sitting and listening, nodding at certain parts when it seemed that she was addressing them as a whole.

All in all, Naruto, Akimi, Akimitsu, and everyone else was thankful when she dismissed them with a reminder that they would be getting their results back the next day via their Jounin instructor.

Naruto silently hoped that he would never have to come across her again during the rest of their stay.


	15. A Note From The Author

**Author's Note**: I'm sorry to say, but no, this is not a new chapter. It's instead the dreaded final notice that every author's hate thinking about, but hates even more having to write.

After thinking long and hard about this, I have finally decided to stop writing this fanfic. I have lost all motivation to continue writing it, as well as no longer having the time to. I tried to be optimistic about this, thinking every day that this would be the day that I'd sit down and write the next chapter, but I just can't. I have too much going on in my life at the moment to have to add in writing. I'm sorry, but I'm officially calling my story, 'The Tale of Naruto, Just Naruto', to a close on my end.

As such, I'm giving anyone who wishes to the option in continuing with my story, whether it be to start where I left off, or to start fresh and only using my story as a point of reference. Whatever you chose to do, all I ask is that you send me a message if you do either of these.

I want to thank everyone who has been with me as I wrote this, and I hope that you can forgive me, though if you don't I can understand why. Who knows; in time, when things calm down and I can breathe, I might come back to this story and continue it myself.

Until then, if that point in time shall ever come, I sign off and wish you all, my dear readers, a good night and good reading.

~AkumasTenshi


End file.
